


What If: The Turks Won the Battle Beneath Midgar?

by HasteinAurelius



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Action, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Banter, Drunken Shenanigans, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Humor, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Relationship(s), Revenge, Romance, Slow Burn, Uneasy Allies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 73,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28110660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HasteinAurelius/pseuds/HasteinAurelius
Summary: Hojo's taken control of the Sister Ray and the reactors and Avalanche was just defeated on their way to stop him. But the Turks have their own agenda...
Relationships: Cid Highwind & Reno, Cid Highwind & Rude, Elena & Reno & Rude & Tseng (Compilation of FFVII), Elena & Reno & Rude (Compilation of FFVII), Elena/Reno (Compilation of FFVII), Reno & Reeve Tuesti, Tifa Lockhart/Rude
Comments: 21
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Standard Boring Disclaimer: Characters in this story are the property of Square/Enix.
> 
> Originally posted on my FF.net account, this is my first and (so far) longest fic. The first chapter was posted way back in 2001 and then, after several excessive hiatuses, I finally finished it in 2006. Porting it over to here will take longer than normal since they didn't have rich text features back then and I'm adding them to this as I go. Characters' thoughts are in italics, which is the main formatting change I'm adding. 
> 
> The first seven chapters were written without a beta, and ended up being revised and rewritten repeatedly thanks to kind advice from reviewers on the other site. The rest was betaed by a friendly fellow writer who used the pen name Noroi.
> 
> Also, before he came back in Advent Children, most fans assumed Tseng was dead. So the other Turks are dealing with his loss going into this. Rufus was also assumed dead.

Rude's final punch sends Cloud crashing into the tunnel wall where he slumps, no longer having the energy to stand unaided. Looking to his side, he sees that Tifa and Vincent are in similar condition. Lifting his eyes in what he thought would be his final moments, Cloud is surprised to see his foes turn to leave. "Why don't you finish us?" He groans.

At this Rude glances at his watch. "...no time."

"We've only got about a half hour before the reactors go," the Turk's flame-haired leader says while replacing his electro-mag rod on his belt. "This might be our only chance to settle our grudge with Hojo."

Tifa looks up at this. "Grudge? What'd he do to you?"

Reno meets her gaze. "You probably don't know this, but Elena here's a damned good hacker. She found some interesting files in the Shin-Ra mainframes." He glances at the blond hacker, making a motion with his hand for her to continue.

"A few hours ago I found some files in Hojo's system describing an experiment he did 30 years ago on Mr. Valentine over there." She pauses to gesture at Vincent. "No one uses a Turk as a guinea pig and lives. We're going to explain that to him, then we're going to kill him."

"But I am no longer a Turk," Vincent protests.

"Not anymore," Rude concedes, "but you were then."

"It's the principle," adds Reno. "We'll get back to you." At this, the three Turks turn on their heels and begin to walk down the tunnel, away from the fallen members of Avalanche.

"Principle?" Cloud asks, looking confused.

"Yeah, since when has Reno had principles?" wonders Tifa.

"The spirit of the Turks. I see little has changed in my absence."

"What's that supposed to mean, Vince?"

"We always considered ourselves the most elite force on the planet. We had pride, honor, dignity. If someone assaulted one of us, they would be dealt with swiftly and permanently."


	2. Disposable Assassins

The Turks move along the dimly-lit tunnels like phantoms. Highly trained in stealth, they stride through the shadows without a sound, barely even making a ripple when they cross the puddles of unidentifiable liquid that litter the tunnels. Few of the monsters that live in the tunnels even notice them. Of the monsters that do notice them, the smart ones cower in the darkness, recognizing the Turks as superior predators. The dumb ones quickly die.

They pause at the bottom of a rusted ladder encrusted with some sort of slimy substance that's dripped from above. "Knowing my luck, that's the only way up..." complains Reno, with a trace of a sardonic smile on his face.

Elena pulls a palm-sized computer out of her jacket and quickly calls up a map. "It's the only one that'll get us there on time."

"Damn." With that said, he quickly leads the way up the ladder. At the top they look around for something to wipe the sludge off their hands with. Not seeing anything usable, Reno shrugs and wipes his hands on his pants. His companions hesitantly follow their leader's example, not wanting to stain their suits, but preferring it to having slippery hands in a battle.

The three spin around at the sound of immense footsteps and a loud clanking. Awkwardly lumbering up the street in front of them was a large humanoid robot that looked like some sleep-deprived engineer's attempt to build a cheap knock-off of the Weapons that had been terrorizing the world lately. The ridiculous looking thing lifts a hand so the palm's level with it's chest where a hatch opens, allowing two familiar figures to step out onto the palm.

"Gya-ha-ha-ha! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question. You do know there's known terrorists in town, right? You two should head back to headquarters. Rufus would have a hard time replacing you two if you got sniped. We have the situation under control." Reno leaves the rest of his thoughts unspoken, but his teammates know what's on his mind. If they were lucky, a sniper would kill these two morons and Rufus would promote someone who was competent to replace them. It was likely that no one would ever know why Rufus and his father had put up with Heidegger and Scarlet for all those years. Tseng had always suspected blackmail, which seemed to be a likely possibility to the other Turks.

"Kya-ha-ha! Weapon killed the president, so we're in charge now!"

The Turks somehow manage to maintain straight faces after this disturbing news. "Which one of you're the new president, then?" Reno inquires calmly.

"President?" Heidegger and Scarlet both explode into laughter at this. Heidegger regains control first and replies. "There won't be a president because Shin-Ra's finished! We'll rule this world through pure military power!"

"...did you two forget about Meteor?" Rude was calm and menacing as always. "When it hits, there won't be much of a world left."

Scarlet replies in her typical insulting fashion. "Fools, that's why we're making Junon our capital! The armored shelters can withstand any blast! After the impact, we'll emerge with an army of giant robots like my Proud Clod here. The world will fall into our control in mere days! Kya-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Gya-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"You think the shelters can withstand the impact, huh? Kinda like when you thought a rusted rocket full of materia would destroy Meteor?" Elena doesn't bother to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

"Stupid arrogant special-forces troops! You're all just as bad as Tseng was!" Scarlet was turning red with anger. "Always thinking you're so elite and better than the rest of us! You think you're so invaluable, but you're just a bunch of slum rats in expensive suits!"

"Gya-ha-ha-ha! He actually thought he was more valuable to us than the black materia!"

It takes all of Reno's willpower to keep his face and his voice calm and level. "What was that about Tseng?"

"After he failed us in the Temple of the Ancients and was clumsy enough to let Sephiroth impale him with the Masamune, he called us demanding that we send some troops in to pull him out. He refused to accept that he was expendable and we needed the troops to capture Avalanche and the black materia!"

"Sephiroth?" Elena is stunned. "Then that guy from Avalanche was telling the truth?"

"Turks aren't expendable." Rude seems as calm as ever, but his friends could see the subtle signs of his anger.

"Kya-ha-ha-ha! You're just disposable assassins, but my proud creation is a sure thing!"

Reno calmly looks Rude and Elena in the eyes and gives a slight nod. His companions return the nod and then, moving as one, the three pull an assortment of guns from their jackets and open fire. The sudden hail of lead catches Heidegger and Scarlet off guard. Scarlet slumps over on the palm, while Heidegger falls backwards into the cockpit. The hatch begins to slide shut. "Rude, make sure they're dead," Reno commands. Rude pulls a grenade out and hurls it into the cockpit. Reno raises an eyebrow as he catches sight of the striped band that identifies what type of grenade it is. "Now that might have been overkill. How the hell did you get your hands on one of those?"

"I didn't see, what type was it?" Elena asks.

"Well, it had red, green, silver, and white stripes."

"High explosive, mako-enhanced, fragmentation with white phosphorous?" Elena sounds surprised. At that moment, the grenade detonates. The nearly closed hatch is blown off by the massive explosion and flies across the street, where it is embedded in the side of a building. A huge cloud of green flame pours out of the cockpit, charring the front of the massive robot and setting off secondary explosions in the Proud Clod's weapons systems. "Well, at least we're sure they're dead."

Rude calmly speaks up in defense of his choice. "Hey, the only other types of grenades I'm carrying are flash-bangs and smoke."

"Rude, buddy," Reno says, "one of these days you're going to have to tell me how you got your hands on experimental grenades."

"I have my ways..." Rude states with a slight smirk.

Reno stares at the burning robot. "So much for Shin-Ra. Looks like the Turks are free-lance now..."

"So we're mercenaries now?" Elena wonders.

"No, we're consultants," Reno corrects her. "None of the real high-class mercs actually call themselves mercs. There's a big difference."

"Alright," Elena agrees, "that fits our image and reputation better."

Rude nods. "Agreed. But not yet, we still have personal business to attend to..."

"Yeah," Reno says, still staring at the burning wreckage, "add Sephiroth to our hit list. We'll deal with him after taking care of Hojo. Let's go." The Turks turn and continue on their path as the remains of the Proud Clod are consumed in flames behind them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looking back, this is probably the weakest chapter. Probably because Scarlett and Heidegger hardly had any characterization in the game and only had a couple paragraphs here before getting killed off. And yeah, this was written before smartphones existed, so Elena has a miniature computer that's separate from her flip phone.


	3. Retribution

From their position on a catwalk, the Turks see Hojo working on a control terminal below. Reno studies a map on Elena's portable computer. "Elena, how long will it take you to get to this back-up terminal?" he asks while pointing at the one in question.

"Two minutes," she replies after looking the route over. "From there I can lock down Hojo's terminal and start the reactor shutdown sequence. There's just one problem. Hojo's using the primary terminal, so he can block anything I try from the back-up unit. I'll need a distraction."

"...we can handle that..." Rude confidently states.

Elena glances at the map again. "I should be able to get from there to the terminal Hojo's using in less than thirty seconds, so try not to kill him before I get back."

Reno grins. "Don't worry, we'll save some for you. Now let's synchronize." They check their watches, then split up.

2:00

Elena darts away silently, headed for a small access hatch to one side. Her partners keep an eye on Hojo.

1:30

Reno and Rude check their weapons, then check them again. Rude checks the time while Reno runs a leather strop across the edge of an already razor-sharp dagger.

1:00

Elena runs through the tunnels, circling around Hojo's position. She uses all her skill at stealth to evade the creatures that live in the tunnels, knowing that she can't afford to be slowed down.

0:45

"Time for the diversion. Let's get moving," Reno says while starting down the ladder.

"I'll let you do the talking," Rude replies while following.

0:25

Elena comes to a halt in front of the auxiliary terminal and checks her watch. _Still some time,_ She thinks. Elena doesn't even touch the terminal yet, knowing that a warning will pop up on one of the screens on the primary terminal when any of the back-up terminals activate. She waits, watching the seconds tick by while her hand hovers over the power switch.

0:20

"Hojo."

The greasy scientist turns at the sound of his name. "Well, this is certainly a surprise. The Turks. I suppose Rufus sent you?"

"Nah, he's a little pre-occupied with being dead right now."

"So, Heidegger or Scarlet probably seized control. Still, it changes nothing. My son needs my help, needs energy..."

"They're dead too." Reno smiles sarcastically. "So, how's blowing up Midgar supposed to help Sephiroth?"

"What? How did you know he was my son? Not even president Shinra knew that!"

"We always know more than people suspect. You should've put better encryption on your personal files."

0:00

Elena flips on the power switch and immediately enters the command to lock down the main terminal. She then checks the reactors' status. _Too much pressure to just shut them down. I'll have to use the emergency venting system._ She then types in the necessary commands. _Interesting how the timing on this works out..._ She takes of at a dead run, a slight smile on her face.

"...science has failed me, but Sephiroth will show me how much he has surpas..." Hojo's rant is cut off as the lights flicker and die. He turns back to his terminal just in time to see green fire explode into the sky as the excess pressure in the reactors is vented above the wasteland that surrounds the city. More importantly, he sees Elena. Silhouetted by the flames, she stands on top of the terminal with a pistol aimed at Hojo's face. He flinches, startled, as Reno and Rude nod their silent approval of Elena's timing.

"You didn't think we were just going to let you destroy the city, did you?" Elena asks sarcastically. "It may be a hell-hole, but it's the hell-hole where we all grew up. Sentimental value, I guess." She jumps down from the terminal as the reactors continue to vent. "More importantly, thirty years ago you took one of us, a Turk named Vincent Valentine, and used him as a human guinea pig!" Reno and Rude simultaneously draw pistols and fire. Their bullets strike Hojo in the backs of his knees, forcing him to kneel as Elena presses the muzzle of her .45 automatic against Hojo's forehead.

"That wasn't very smart of you, Hojo," Reno taunts him from behind. "You should've known we'd find out eventually."

"No one uses a Turk like that and lives," Rude adds.

Hojo, strangely enough, begins laughing. "I've injected Jenova's cells into my own body. Would you like to see my results?"

"Not really," Elena says as she pulls her trigger. The bullet passes cleanly through Hojo's head, removing a large portion of the back of his skull.

"Pretty slick," Reno compliments Elena as the Turks turn and begin to walk off. They suddenly freeze as Hojo resumes laughing. "It will take more than that to kill me." Before their shocked eyes, Hojo's body writhes and shifts, transforming into a vaguely humanoid abomination with two large tentacles and no other limbs.

"Shit." Rude's statement sums up the situation pretty well.

"Let's get some defenses up while it's still changing," Reno commands as he calls on the latent energies of the tiny materia orbs embedded in the mako shield strapped to his forearm.

Reno casts a haste spell on his team as Rude and Elena conjure up shields against physical and magical damage. Finished with their casting, the Turks spread out while reaching under their coats. Elena hurls a fragmentation grenade at Hojo while Reno extracts an extremely short sawed-off pump shotgun from it's holster and unloads the magazine into his adversary. As Hojo staggers under the assault and Reno reloads, Rude draws a compact 10mm submachinegun and begins raking Hojo with short, controlled bursts. Meanwhile, Elena opens fire with her .45 while pulling out an identical pistol with her other hand.

The Turks continue to move and keep their distance while pouring a large volume of lead and an occasional grenade or burst of magical energy into Hojo, easily dodging his clumsy attempts at striking them with his tentacles. After firing his last shell, Reno drops the shotgun and charges forward with his electro-mag rod. Easily leaping over a swinging tentacle, Reno uses both hands and all his momentum to ram the blunt rod deep into Hojo's left eye socket. He then triggers what he calls the "oh shit switch" which discharges the rod's mako power cell's entire charge.

"Stay down this time," Reno says while casually lighting a cigarette as Hojo falls and spasms from the massive burst of energy ripping through his body.

"He's changing again Reno," Elena warns.

Looking down, Reno sees Hojo's body contracting into yet another form. Shrugging, he plants a foot on Hojo's face and reaches down to retrieve his rod, only to find it locked in place by Hojo's face regenerating around it. "You're really starting to piss me off," he growls while drawing his pistol, a custom piece that uses the obscure and powerful 9x25 round. Calling on one of the materia orbs embedded in his pistol's grip, Reno drops a massive lightning bolt on Hojo as he rises again. The Turks resume their merciless assault on the scientist whose body had become nearly as twisted and repulsive as his mind.

Seconds later Rude drops his SMG, having burnt through the last magazine. He then draws his pistol that, like his SMG, was heavily customized and modified to accept both types of magazine. Elena hurls her last grenade and follows it up with a huge burst of fire from her materia. Hojo makes a few more attempts to strike back, but is unable to land anything more than an occasional grazing hit on the agile Turks. Firing the last round from his pistol Rude drops it and reaches behind his neck, pulling a pair of long throwing knives from their hiding place in his jacket's lining. He hurls the first one with his typical deadly accuracy, burying the blade deep in Hojo's right eye. Hojo rears back from the pain and panic of being suddenly blinded. As the second blade flies through the air towards Hojo, Rude withdraws a shorter pair from behind his lapels.

Blinded, Hojo's attacks become even more futile. Deciding to keep what little ammo he has left in reserve, Reno holsters his pistol, then reaches up his right sleeve and draws a long, narrow dagger that was battered and stained from over a decade of hard use. As he nears Hojo, Reno pulls an old switchblade from his pocket with his off hand and flicks it open. Following his lead, Elena and Rude also close in. Elena holsters her pistols and draws a pair of nasty looking push daggers from their sheaths hanging in front of the pistols on her belt. After hurling a third pair of blades into Hojo, Rude opts to simply use his reinforced gloves to beat Hojo to death.

Hojo begins to wither under the furious onslaught, receiving powerful punches to the kidneys and spine and multiple deep stab wounds from both flanks. As Hojo slumps, Rude pulls a piano wire garrote from a pocket and slips it around Hojo's neck, pulling him upright and immobile. After a few moments of being simultaneously stabbed and strangled, Hojo gives a final shudder and falls still. Rude releases one of the garrote's handles, letting the body fall to the floor. "Think he's dead this time?" Elena asks.

In response, Reno kicks Hojo in the head. "Looks dead to me." After pocketing the switchblade, he kneels and begins to carve at Hojo's face with his dagger, loosening the embedded electro-mag rod. Rude picks up and holsters his dropped firearms then kneels next to his partner and begins retrieving his knives. After a considerable amount of cutting, Reno frees his rod. After wiping it off on his suit he collapses it and replaces the spent mako cell, then places the rod on his belt.

"Here you go, boss," Elena says, handing Reno his dropped shotgun.

"Thanks," Reno replies. He then stands and surprises his partners by picking up Hojo's body.

"What're you doing?" Elena asks.

"Making sure he stays dead this time. Remember that fuel depot we passed on the way up?" With that said, he turns and leads the way. In a few minutes, Hojo's corpse is on the floor and thoroughly soaked in high-octane fuel. "Burn in hell you sick -," Reno says as he flicks a cigarette onto Hojo, igniting him.

"Now what?" Rude asks.

"We need more info on Sephiroth and Meteor. Time to track down those Avalanche guys again, see what they know..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story had a four year hiatus before I finished this chapter.


	4. My Enemy's Enemy...

"I told you we'd get back to you." The members of Avalanche, surprised, turn at the sound of Reno's voice echoing up the tunnel from behind them. They're further shocked at the appearance of the three figures in rumpled, bloodstained suits that stride out of the shadows in the tunnel.

"Holy shit! What the hell have you fucking assholes been up to?"

"Heh, I see you haven't mellowed out any, Captain." Reno glances down at his suit and smirks. "It's mostly Hojo's. Dealing with him got kinda messy."

"What'd you do to him?" Cloud asks.

"... less than he deserved..." Rude states.

"Yeah," Elena adds. "You shoulda seen some of the sick stuff in his personal files. That sick bastard's been torturing people longer than most of us've been alive! He experimented on himself too and changed into some freaky monsters with lots of blood in them but that didn't help him any. Just took longer to kill him and made a bigger mess is all." She briefly pauses to breathe. "We ran into Heidegger and Scarlet too, and killed them. Because they told us Sephiroth killed Tseng and they left him to die when he called for help. So now we're gonna kill Sephi..."

"Enough, Lena," Reno interrupts, "you're starting to ramble again." He turns back to the members of Avalanche. "We're not going to kill you, we just want information. Everything you know about Sephiroth and Meteor."

"No! After all he's done to us, we should be the ones to destroy Sephiroth!" Cloud proclaims.

Reno holds back his instinctive smartass reply, deciding to try tact. "Think about it. Everyone here wants Sephiroth dead. We beat you, so we'd have a better chance than you at making that happen. Best thing you can do to make sure he dies is tell me what I want to know."

"We can't just stand back and watch!" Tifa proclaims. Her comrades all voice their agreement.

"Alright," Reno concedes. "If you want a piece of the action I'll let you tag along. But only if you all agree to follow my orders and tell me what I want to know."

"What?" Barret bellows. "Ya damned Shin-Ra bastards think we'll follow a murderer?"

"Why not?" Reno quips. "You've been following one since your last time in Midgar. Damn hypocrites."

"What'd ya say?" Barret demands.

"I think you heard me, murderer." Reno pauses to casually light a cigarette while Barret fumes with rage. "Want to know how many people you killed blowing up reactors? Each one wiped out about three blocks around it."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from the guy who dropped the plate on sector seven!" Tifa exclaims. "Do you know how many people you killed when you dropped the plate on them?"

"Yep. And how many on top of the plate died from the fall. The difference between me and you hypocrites is I don't lie about having blood on my hands."

"It was for the planet. Ya gotta expect some casualties," Barret explains.

"President Shin-Ra said about the same thing when he ordered me to drop the plate," Reno replies. Barret has no answer to this, staring at the ground apparently deep in thought. "So, are you with us?"

"Hold on a minute," Cloud requests. He withdraws a few yards with his teammates where they form a loose huddle to discuss Reno's proposition.

"What're you doing, Reno? We don't need them," Elena complains.

"Yeah," Rude agrees.

"We don't need them, it's just the quickest way to get their info," Reno explains. "Just need to have something to keep them busy while we're dealing with Sephiroth, like guarding our landing zone or something."

After a few minutes of hushed debate, Cloud and his companions walk back over to the Turks. "Alright, we'll do it. We all hate Sephiroth more than we hate Shin-Ra." Reno turns on a recording device hidden in one of his pockets as the members of Avalanche tell what they know about Sephiroth, Meteor, and Holy. Nanaki does most of the talking. "So now what?" Cloud asks.

"Heal up, get your best gear, and meet us at the Junon airport in four days. Bring your airship. If Bugenhagen's right, we'll have three more days to kill Sephiroth. One or two oughta be enough." After Reno states this, the two groups exchange PHS numbers and part ways.

After walking a few feet, Rude suddenly stops. "Did he just say 'mosey'?"

"I think so," Reno answers, laughing.

"Heh, mosey," Elena chuckles. "So, where're we gonna mosey to, Reno?"

After laughing a bit, Reno answers. "My place. It's the closest safehouse with a generator." He then leads the way to the nearest ladder, which takes the Turks to street level. There they see several burning buildings and a few looters running down the street with stolen electronics. "I used to think the slums couldn't get any worse," Reno remarks. After walking a few blocks through the riot-torn streets, Reno stops in front of a small building that's built up against a secondary plate support.

"You live here?" Elena asks.

"Nope, just passing through," he answers as he opens the door. Inside, they see a small apartment that looks like it's mostly used for storage. Reno opens a cabinet, revealing boxes of assorted types of ammunition. After the trio takes a minute to stock up, Reno steps into the bathroom and pulls a hidden lever that causes the back wall of the shower to slide aside, revealing a maintenance tunnel. "We've got several places like this around town," he explains to Elena. "Makes it easy to move around unseen." When closed, the door to the safehouse blends in almost perfectly with the tunnel wall. Reno then turns and leads the way up a well-maintained ladder leading up a narrow shaft in the ceiling.

"Where's this lead?" Elena asks.

"Onto the plate..." Rude answers.

"Isn't that kinda a ridiculously long climb?"

"What, you're not up for a little climb?" Reno teases. "Don't worry, there's platforms every few hundred feet where you can rest. Wouldn't be much use to the repair guys without them." They slowly climb the dark tunnel mostly in silence, interrupted by an occasional curse. After only a few breaks they reach the top, where a hatch leads into another tunnel. After feeling around on the wall, Reno trips another hidden switch, opening a door to what looks like a closet. Passing through, the team finds another small safehouse, slightly bigger than the one in the slums. "Almost there. My place's on the outer edge of the next plate over."

Exiting the safehouse, they find less looting and burning than in the slums, probably due to the occasional patrolling Shin-Ra troops. "Hey, get over here!" Reno yells to a pair patrolling on a motorcycle with a sidecar. Recognizing the distinctive blue suit, they immediately pull over.

"Sir, are you all right?"

"We're fine. We just need your bike, now." The troops hesitantly hand it over then resume their patrol. "Much better," Reno says as he sits on the bike. "We've been walking too much today." His partners gratefully climb on, Rude in the sidecar and Elena on the seat behind Reno. Reno twists the throttle and, engine roaring, they speed off down the street towards Reno's safehouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going through this chapter reminded me that ff.net updates wiped out all of Cid's signature cursing symbols. Then a later update reduced all of the "----" that I'd been using instead with a single dash. Hopefully I won't miss any when restoring Cid's lines. He has a lot to say in later chapters. I considered just getting rid of the silly symbols and writing everything out, but I'm going with how the game had it.


	5. Casa de Reno

Reno accelerates his borrowed bike up an entrance ramp to the Midgar Expressway. With all the entrances blocked by checkpoints to keep the evacuation running smoothly, traffic flows much better than on the clogged streets below, where Reno had to drive on the sidewalks to make headway. "Hey Reno, think anyone from Avalanche'll show up at Junon?" Elena inquires.

"Two for sure, probably at least five," He replies, raising his voice so his partners can hear him above the sounds of wind and traffic.

"Really? Who do you think'll show?"

"Valentine's a retired Turk and he said he'd be there, so he will. Reeve's got nothing to lose by sending his robot, so it'll be there too. Lockheart and Strife are kinda like us cause Sephiroth killed someone close to them. They both want revenge pretty bad, so they'll probably show up."

"Yeah," Rude adds, "you could see it in their eyes anytime Sephiroth was mentioned."

"Right," Reno continues while weaving through traffic, "then there's Highwind. That guy's always had more balls than brains. He never learned how to back down from a fight no matter how bad the odds were and I don't think the crazy bastard plans to," Reno says with a slight smile, thinking of a few memorable bar brawls from years back. He then turns onto an exit ramp and resumes threading through congested traffic.

"Sounds like you know him."

"Yeah. Back in the war with Wutai, all the crazy pilots like him that weren't fighter jocks wound up ferrying around spec-ops teams. Rude and me flew with him a few times. The crazy bastard flew through some real shitstorms, flak everywhere, no hesitation." Reno laughs. "He didn't hesitate to jump into bar brawls when we were off, either. Broke my nose once, I gave him a broken jaw for it."

"Wow, I didn't know you two were in the war. I guess you guys did pretty good to get into the Turks later."

"Close. When they went to war, Shin-Ra put everything they had into winning. Back before the war, the Turks handled executive protection, industrial espionage, and special security. That stuff wasn't as important after the war started, so our mission changed. Turks like Tseng with enough Wutai blood to blend in worked as spies. Everyone else traded their blue for camo and became commandos. We did scouting, sniping, sabotage, anything where stealth was top priority. The old Turk training already covered damn near everything we needed to know."

Reno pauses to concentrate on maneuvering around a large multi-car wreck. "It was pretty damned dangerous work. Our unit had one of the higher casualty rates in the war, but we had the highest success rate." Reno says this with obvious pride in his voice. "There were only four Turks before the war, so every recruit with the right scores on their psych and intelligence tests got put into Turk training. That's how Rude and me got in. We're here," he states, turning one last corner. "Remind me later and I'll tell you the rest." He turns towards a tall, tapered condo building. "Now hold on. This place's doors are electric so we're gonna have to bust in."

"You're not thinking of..." Rude's cut off as Reno guns the motor, accelerating up the steps towards the large plate glass window between the doors in the front of the building. Clearing the last step, the large bike goes airborne, smashing through the wide glass window. Releasing the throttle, Reno swerves and brings the bike to a stop next to a stairwell door, leaving a trail of torn carpet and broken glass behind him.

"You can stop trying to squeeze me in half now, Lena," Reno jokes, pushing his shades back up to their regular position.

"Nice riding. What was that you were saying earlier about guys with more balls than brains?" She retorts while climbing off the bike. Chuckling, Reno dismounts and leads the way up the stairwell. "What floor're you on?"

"The top's mine."

"Yay, more climbing," Elena says sarcastically. "Wait, you have the whole floor?"

"Yeah. The building gets pretty narrow towards the top, it's not like it's huge or anything." Emerging from the stairwell they enter the small top floor lobby. Fishing his keys out of his pocket, Reno kicks his filth-encrusted shoes into a corner, walks over to the only apartment door in the lobby and lets his team in. They follow his lead, leaving their shoes in the hall. "Here we are. I'm gonna go fire up the generator." He grins. "Try not to track too much Hojo around my place." That said, he disappears into the darkened apartment.

Rude walks towards a back wall where dim light leaks into the room. Pulling a cord, he draws aside a set of vertical blinds that cover roughly half of the back wall, flooding the room with late afternoon sunlight and revealing a large balcony.

"Wow, he's got a nice place," Elena says, looking around a large room that could be best described as the fusion of a lounge and a conference room. The far end of the room was dominated by a large TV, flanked by a shelf of stereo and videoconferencing equipment on one side and an electric whiteboard and printer on the other. The whiteboard still bears part of an old mission briefing in Tseng's distinctive handwriting. Two large couches are set in front of it at an angle, separated from each other by a long, wedge shaped coffee table with built-in teleconference phones. A full-sized pool table sits towards the center of the room behind the couches.

Rude walks towards the other end of the room, which features a large, well-stocked mini-bar. "Good idea, Rude," Elena says, following him to the bar. They both roll up their sleeves and carefully wash the assorted filth off their hands before handling the bar equipment. Rude then picks up a lowball glass and pours himself some fine aged Bourbon. Elena takes a bit longer to decide among the vast assortment of drinks before pulling a brandy snifter from the rack and pouring some Zwetschgenwasser, a type of plum brandy she hadn't tried yet. "I'm surprised how clean he keeps this place," she comments.

Rude laughs and takes a sip of Bourbon before replying. "He doesn't. The company sends a maid over every week or so when he's in town. I heard once that the maids with security clearances draw straws and the loser gets to clean Reno's mess." This comment draws a laugh from Elena.

"You two didn't waste any time," Reno laughs as he walks back into the room. "Since you two look so comfortable there, I'll go ahead and hit the shower first." He then disappears through another doorway before either can protest.

"What, no 'ladies first'?' Elena complains.

"You can go next, if you want," Rude offers.

"Thanks." Elena glances around the room again while enjoying her brandy. "Looks like some pretty expensive stuff. How's he afford it?"

"One of the perks of the job," Rude answers. "When you class your place as an official safehouse, you get to deduct about everything in it as business expenses. Shin-Ra even pays the rent." He pauses to sip his booze. "You'd have a place like this too if we hadn't been too busy since you joined."

"Too bad. So what's your place like?"

"Kinda like this." Rude's short answer disappoints Elena, who had made a hobby of trying to get the taciturn Turk to talk more.

* * *

Closing the bathroom door behind him, Reno slouches back against it, head bowed, and releases a puff of smoke and a pent-up sigh. 'A leader must never show weakness when there's a job to be done' Tsengs words echo in Reno's head from a long-ago lesson to the newly promoted second-in-command. 'Fear, sorrow, fatigue, all of these are contagious, especially when shown by a leader.' Out of sight of his companions and not having to fear damaging their morale, Reno allows his carefully controlled features to relax from his typical casual expression that he'd been clinging to during the weeks since Tseng's death.

He almost relaxes too far, a swell of emotion threatening to overwhelm him, but he holds it back, remembering his own words this time. 'We'll mourn him when he's avenged. Tseng'd be damned disappointed if he knew we were moping around here when the bastards who killed him're still breathing.' He'd stated this during his first job as the new leader, delivering the bad news to his partners, and had been living by these words as well as he could.

Leaning forward from the door, Reno steps up to the sink where he begins to empty his suit of the various tools of his trade hidden in it. Shrugging off his ruined jacket, he then removes his custom shoulder harness and his belt and hangs them and the assorted tools attached to them from the hook on the door. Then he unbuttons his shirt, revealing a large number of overlapping scars, a roadmap of a rough and dangerous life. As often happens, many of the memorable events in Reno's life spring to mind when he views the marks they left on him.

As he finishes the buttons he reveals three parallel scars just above his waistline, left by the iron claw of a Wutai ninja who nearly disemboweled Reno during the war. These triple scars marked the first time Rude had saved his life. Reno doubts he could ever forget staggering through the jungle at night with Rude helping him stay on his feet, clutching the pressure dressings that held him together. In contrast to that agonizing experience, most of his later injuries seemed mere inconveniences.

Slightly above and to the right of those scars was the faded web-like mark of an old gunshot wound, marking the first time he'd saved Rude's life. They had been fighting a group of Wutaians that included one who was exceptionally skilled at using a pistol in close quarters. This gunman had managed to kneecap Rude and was about to finish him with a point-blank headshot when Reno stepped in, shoving Rude aside and cracking the Wutaian's skull with the butt of his rifle. When he did this the bullet intended for Rude struck Reno instead, driving down through his body until it struck his pelvis, cracking it. Miraculously, the damaged bone had held until they reached the landing zone, where it finally gave way while Reno was lifting Rude into the chopper.

The two had spent the next month sharing a room in a field hospital, pumped full of morphine half the time while they waited for their bolted-together bones to knit. Over the years that followed, the two Turks eventually ceased keeping track of who owed who and if asked would claim to have lost count.

Viewing part of his collection of old scars from war and childhood in the slums, plus the nearly invisibly fine network of later scars from wounds healed with modern magical medicine that overlay them, Reno reflects on the fact that most of them are there because of mistakes he'd made. He now finds himself in a situation where he can afford no mistakes. He must use all his training in strategy, tactics, and leadership to create and execute plans and contingencies to invade the northern crater, kill Sephiroth, and escape with no margin for error. As if that weren't complicated enough, now that news of Holy had given Reno hope of living to enjoy his revenge, he needs to come up with long-term plans for the Turks' future in a world without Shin-Ra.

Briefly he wonders how Tseng dealt with the pressure over the years, how he would deal with the increased pressures, but the answer comes to him almost as quickly as the question. "Because it was his job," Reno says softly, looking himself in the eyes through the mirror. "He handled it because he had to. All life on this planet just might be riding on my shoulders. It's damned heavy, but I'm gonna carry that weight. Because it's my job." His resolve hardened, Reno finishes stripping and steps into the shower.

* * *

"Yeah, try that one, I think you'd like it," Rude says, looking over Elena's shoulder. The two Turks were killing time by browsing through Reno's 'recipe books', a collection of bartender's manuals collected during his travels around the world that contained thousands of mixed drink recipes among them. Sorting through the varied bottles, Elena carefully mixes three liquors in ice and then strains the bright green result into a cocktail glass.

"Mmmmm... Tastes a lot better than it looks," she proclaims after a cautious sip. "You'd think they'd give something like this a more appetizing name than 'Flying Grasshopper'."

"Hey, don't get too far ahead of me," Reno says, seeing the various used glasses strewn across his mini-bar as he exits the bathroom. Turning at his voice, Elena is surprised to see Reno walk out still wet, wearing only a pair of dark blue swim trunks. She's surprised at how muscular the skinny Turk is, and at the amount of scars overlaying his compact physique. His fiery hair, unbound and wet, hangs nearly to his waist. _Wow. I thought the gossips were exaggerating when they said he was chiseled like that. If they weren't exaggerating that, I wonder if they told the truth about his skills too? No, you're a professional, you shouldn't be drooling over your hot boss! Stop staring at him, damn it,_ runs through Elena's head before she pulls her eyes away and looks down into her drink.

"I'm gonna go fire up the hot tub," Reno says, explaining his outfit.

"Sounds nice. I hope I've got something to wear. Where's the bags?" Reno points to a closet that Elena opens, revealing four duffel bags, which were a standard feature of all Turk safehouses. Opening the one with her name on the tag reveals several changes of clothes, a small assortment of weapons and other tools, various toiletries, and a few other useful items. Elena's mildly annoyed to discover a pack of men's disposable razors, but grabs one anyways. She'd been shaving much less frequently since her promotion, a definite bonus of wearing a uniform with long pants every day, and didn't want to tempt Reno to make any sasquatch jokes. Finally she finds what she's looking for in a side pocket, a simple one-piece swimsuit. "I'm surprised you didn't have the supply department put a skimpy bikini or something in here," Elena teases.

"Nah, I had them put that in the Costa del Sol one," Reno replies with a mischievous smile.

"You're kidding, right?

"Maybe," He chuckles while walking out the door to the balcony. As he turns to operate the controls on the hot tub, Elena notices a large tattoo on his left arm that stretches from shoulder to elbow, a thin stylized dagger with hawk wings for a cross-guard and a skull with flaming eye sockets for a pommel. Walking into the bathroom, Elena hears the clink of bottles behind her as Reno mixes a drink while waiting for the hot tub to fill.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rude's voice carries faintly through the closed door.

"Nothing, just a little tired is all…" Reno's voice drifts through this time.

"We've known each other for more than half of our lives. You're the closest thing I've ever had to a brother, so you can't fool me. What's eating at you?" Elena's eyes widen a bit from concern for Reno when she hears this. "I know what you're trying to do, holding it in like this. I had the same training on morale, remember? Don't worry, I'm solid, Reno. Nothing you say can shake me from getting revenge for Tseng. So spit it out." Elena's stunned by a combination of worry for Reno and hearing Rude talk more in one minute than she sometimes heard from him in entire days.

"...Tseng's a tough act to follow." Reno's voice again, hesitant and soft enough that it's almost inaudible in the bathroom. "Every time I have to make a decision, I can't get him out of my mind. I just keep thinking, what would Tseng do? Would he approve my choices? Or would he think I'm being a dumbass? I've made plenty of mistakes in my life... no room for another. We're gonna have one shot at this. I need to come up with a perfect plan, but when I think on it shit keeps going through my head like 'Tseng'd have a better plan', and 'Why the hell couldn't Rufus send me to investigate the temple instead?'. Kinda makes it hard to focus. Makes me more likely to make mistakes. Sometimes I doubt I'll ever be half the leader he was..."

"You keep going on about your mistakes. What about Tseng, ever see him make mistakes?"

"Damned rarely, never on anything important."

"Remember when he got promoted? It was nearly a month before he announced who'd be second-in-command. All that time to think and he picked you, even though the president objected. Ever wonder why Tseng made you second-in-command, even though you were always screwing around and making trouble? I got curious once and asked him. The main thing was your ability to improvise and think on your feet. That may be one of the basic requirements to be a Turk, but Tseng said you had a real gift for it. He actually said you were one of the best he's ever seen at adapting to changing situations and getting the job done. You've shown that on damn near every mission I've ever been with you on. Hell, Tseng said you would have been a natural leader if you just had more ambition. You think he made a mistake when he picked you?"

"...he actually said that stuff?"

"Yeah. I believe him."

"Huh. Always wondered why he'd promote a screwball like me. Something to think on. Thanks, Rude."

"Anytime."

"Just don't tell Elena I got shaky like this. Don't want her getting worried."

"You should've tried talking quieter then," Elena says, stepping out of the bathroom. "I didn't mean to overhear, but don't worry about me. I'll avenge Tseng or die trying. I don't think I could live with myself if I didn't. Hey, you may not be Tseng, but you've been doing great leading us. I'm with you a hundred percent, boss."

"Thanks, Elena," Reno says with a small, genuine smile. "It's funny, here I was worrying about dragging down you two's morale, and when the two of you find out you crank mine up a couple notches. It's been seriously great working with both of you. Shit, listen to me, I usually don't talk like this until after I get hammered. Guess I oughta get to work on that." Reno then turns back to the minibar and surreptitiously wipes his eyes while reaching up for a bottle. His fellow Turks spot the slight-of-hand, but don't say anything about it.

"I knew you could talk more, Rude. Why don't you do that more often?" Elena asks.

"...usually I've nothing to say," he responds, slipping back into his typical taciturn mode.

Deciding that Rude's probably done his quota of talking for the rest of the month, Elena heads back to the bathroom.

"She's got some good ears."

"Yeah..."

Reno waits until he hears running water before continuing in a whisper. "She did pretty good today, didn't she?"

"I think she proved herself down there," Rude replies quietly.

"Same here." Reno rummages around the back of the small fridge built into the bar, withdrawing a bottle of Champagne older than he was. After placing the bottle in an ice bucket, he then pulls three champagne flutes from the rack and hides it all behind the hot tub. "Don't tell her," Reno orders while returning to the bar. He then finishes mixing his drink and carries it and his PHS back to the balcony and climbs into the hot tub. As the hot water relaxes his body he gets to work, selecting the number for Shin-Ra's intelligence division and hoping the inevitable break up of Shin-Ra hadn't spread that far yet. To his relief, someone on the other end is on duty to answer. "This is Reno of the Turks. I've got priority one intel orders for you. I'm at secure fax Turk-03. Send me everything you've got on the Northern Crater, Sephiroth, Jenova, and Avalanche. Yeah, I know that's a lot. Now get your asses to work or I'll be paying you a visit."

* * *

Closing the bathroom door behind her for the second time, Elena begins withdrawing various weapons and other tools from her jacket and pockets, adding to the impressive pile left behind by Reno. Shrugging off her jacket, Elena begins removing her gunbelt. Due to the difficulties of fitting standard concealment equipment to women, she'd had to have it custom made by Shin-Ra's executive armaments department. The custom gear blends her weapons well enough with the curves of her hips that the thin weapons disappear beneath a jacket. Slipping off her tie, Elena slides a thin knife out of it before tossing the stained silk strip onto the pile of ruined clothing. As she unbuttons her shirt, Elena feels glad that the thin scars left by materia healing were only visible to those with Mako eyes. While she had never been vain, the small collection of scars she had acquired since her promotion to the Turks would have been enough to embarrass her away from wearing shorts, sleeveless shirts, and swimsuits if they'd been visible to most people.

Her shirt removed, Elena reaches for her hideout piece, a compact 9mm in a holster attached to the bottom of her bra. Although she was very petite, the swell of her breasts was sufficient to conceal the weapon under any clothes that weren't overly tight. She had learned this trick from an older woman while growing up in the slums. She had carried a crude zip gun made from scrap pipe and other scavenged materials in those days, but it had been plenty of firepower to send two would-be rapists to hell. They had made the fatal mistake of thinking the small blonde would be an easy victim, something she hadn't been in years and had sworn she would never be again. Although she didn't look like it and seldom acted like it, Elena was a tough street survivor with a large repertoire of dirty tricks and a small body count behind her even before her forcible recruitment into Shin-Ra. These had impressed Tseng enough to have her promoted from Shin-Ra's Information Warfare department when he needed another Turk.

As she finishes stripping and walks into the shower, Elena's mildly surprised to see bottles of conditioner and mousse. Elena knew from gossip and occasional bathroom stall graphiti that Reno's wild hair was a large part of the slovenly, bad-boy image that so many of the women at the office found irresistible. Apparently, Reno knew this too, and used it to his advantage. Relaxing under the flow of hot water, Elena laughs at the thought that the flame-haired Turk with the bad reputation might actually spend more time making his hair look careless than he would in simply neatly combing it. As she lathers up, Elena wonders what other interesting things she might discover about her complex friend.

While the last of the lather makes it's way down the drain, Elena slips into the simple blue swimsuit and exits the bathroom. Rude wastes no time in slipping past her and into the bathroom while Elena heads to the bar, noticing that the fax machine mounted on the wall is busily spitting out papers into a small tray.

* * *

Walking into the bathroom, Rude is once again glad he chose to shave his head. There is a good reason why assassinations are called wetwork, and Rude had found an easily cleaned head convenient after many missions. As he begins to strip, he once again wonders why Reno keeps that red mop on his head. Sure, the ladies love it, but what a pain in the ass to clean it after splattering some target's head on a wall. Rude removes his shades and, blinking at the unaccustomed brightness, steps into the shower and begins to efficiently clean himself.

* * *

After mixing herself a Pina Colada, Elena heads out to the hot tub where Reno's still talking on the phone. Reno looks up and unexpectedly pales, his eyes widening. _Holy shit! How come I didn't notice before? She looks just like... No time for that, Turk, you've got work to do,_ runs through Reno's head. He snaps out of it a moment later and resumes chewing out the person on the other end of the line.

 _I wonder what the hell that was about,_ Elena wonders as she climbs into the tub. She allows her body to relax in the hot water, waiting for him to finish and hang up before speaking. "What was that about? You looked like you'd seen a ghost!"

"Almost thought I did. You... reminded me of someone I used to know for a moment there..."

Looking deeply into his aquamarine Mako eyes, Elena faintly sees a pain she often saw lately whenever she looked in a mirror. "You loved her." He nods. "And lost her." Another nod.

"One of the deadliest fighters in the world and the only woman I ever loved and she was taken from me by an engine malfunction on a routine flight back to Midgar after the war ended." Reno's voice is uncharacteristically thick and strained as he speaks. "Imagine that, making it through some of the hardest fighting in the war then getting killed in a plane crash. Life's kinda funny like that..."

"What'd you do?"

"Pulled some strings and got on the rescue mission. She was already dead when I found her, so I did the first thing that came to mind." As he says this, Reno points to a long scar running down the inside of his right forearm. "Rude saved me, hit me with a cure spell before I could bleed out, then a quick sleep before I could try again. He helped me work through it after I woke up, helped me get my head back together enough to go back to work."

"Does... Does it ever stop hurting?"

Reno looks into Elena's softly glowing brown eyes and sighs, unsurprised at what he sees in them as he'd known about her feelings for Tseng even before Tseng noticed. "I wish I could tell you it did, Lena. It gets dull over the years, but it's still there. Sometimes it flares up, even years later. That's pretty damned rare, luckily." Hearing this, Elena remembers a curious incident she'd seen a few weeks after her promotion: Reno locking the door to his office and coming out a half-hour later with whisky on his breath and his shades uncharacteristically over his eyes instead of his forehead. She'd been confused at the time, and Tseng and Rude had evaded her questions. Elena had experienced a few occasions after Tseng's death where she'd used her shades to hide reddened eyes, so now she knew what he'd been doing.

"Having someone to get revenge on should help you feel like you've at least set things right with Tseng. After that, keeping busy with work helps. Getting wasted and one-night stands help dull the pain too. Basically anything that keeps your mind busy or fogged's good. It sounds cheesy, but good friends're damned good for coping. If I hadn't had Rude around early on, I woulda probably taken another shot at offing myself. So, if you need any help with this, me n' Rude're here for ya."

"Thanks, Reno. I'll take you up on that offer after we've dealt with Sephiroth. But I didn't mention any names. How long've you known?"

"It was pretty obvious. Remember a few weeks after your promotion when I cut down on the casual flirting with you?"

"You figured it out that soon? But you still flirted sometimes."

"Only when Tseng was around. Wanted to see if I could get a reaction outa him. Figured you wouldn't mind maybe getting to see him act jealous. Too bad he never took the bait." Elena sees a trace of Reno's trademark smirk as he says this. "Somehow I figured it out before Rude too. Kinda odd since he's usually insanely perceptive."

"Did you ever try falling in love again? Couldn't that help?"

"I was tempted a couple times, but I always ended up backing out when things started getting serious. There's not much in this world that scares me, but losing someone like that again's pretty damned high on the list. I don't want to have to deal with that kind of pain again. Don't tell anyone I said this, 'kay? Wouldn't want to ruin my reputation."

"Sure. So, why didn't you notice I looked like her before?"

"I guess I never noticed before cause of the suit, your hair, and your not having any scars. Any chance you had a sister, about five or six years older, with dark hair?"

"If I did, no one ever told me."

"Hold on a second." Climbing out of the tub, Reno disappears into the apartment. He returns moments later, carrying a battered black binder. After climbing back into the tub he opens it, revealing laminated sheets of photos. Scooting closer so she can see, Elena sees a very young Reno and Rude dressed in camo, grinning and striking a pose in front of a burnt-out Wutaian tank in a jungle.

"We weren't much older than 14 when we got 'recruited'. Course, like most kids recruited from the slums, we didn't have any choice about it. Hell, I signed the enlistment papers at gunpoint. You won't read this in any history books, but Shin-Ra was losing, slowly, and was kinda getting desperate. Every half-year or so they'd lower the recruitment age. Things didn't turn around till they came up with materia. Anyway, they organized Turks in teams of two since that's usually all we needed for a mission. Rude and me were paired together right after training."

He flips the page, showing a group shot of about a dozen very young men and women with three older vets mixed in. "Those three were in the Turks before the war, along with Tseng. He spent the whole war undercover, so you won't see him till the post-war pics. That there's about the most Turks we ever had in the field at once. It was dangerous work, and the training was pretty damned hard, so lots of times we were losing people faster than we could get replacements. Like I said before, all the recruits that got the right psyche and intelligence scores got put through Turk training."

"Funny thing, something about being a slum survivor, especially an orphan, fit the psyche profile damn near perfectly. So we had lots of those. Training was hard enough about three quarters washed out. The wash-outs got dumped in SOLIDER training, most of 'em made it there."

Reno begins to flip pages and Elena stops him when one catches her eye. "What's going on here?" The picture in question showed young Reno and Rude grinning, each with a cigar in one hand, a bottle of booze in the other, and two young, slightly mal-nourished looking Wutaian women in their lap.

"Human nature." He answers. "We were all young, horny, and not sure if we'd live through our next mission. So most of us blew our pay on booze, smokes, hookers, gambling, drugs, whatever kept our mind off things. We didn't really expect to make it through the war, so there wasn't much point holding onto our pay or living healthy." He turns a few more pages. "Here she is."

"Damn, she does look a lot like me..." The picture showed a young Reno, slightly older looking than in previous pictures, sitting on a beach in short swim trunks with a bikini-clad woman in his lap. She appeared a little shorter than Elena, with similar curves and facial structure. Unlike Elena, she had long dark hair and, like young Reno, was covered sparsely with a variety of scars from the war, including a large one down the left side of her face that was partially covered by an eyepatch. Both had wide smiles on their faces and a cigarette hanging out of the corner of their mouths. Two mostly empty bottles of Sake were sitting to the side in the sand.

"Angela..." Reno sighs. "I called her Angel. That picture's from the day we met. Every few months Shin-Ra would give us a week's leave. They'd figured people tended to make more stupid mistakes if they didn't get occasional breaks. By shear damned coincidence we both got leave the same week and headed to the same south Wutai beach to have some fun. We ran into each other on our first afternoon off and both liked what we saw. It's a strange way to start a serious relationship, but it was strange times we were in. We were both drunk sixteen year olds who didn't know if they'd still be alive next week and were looking for fun, so... well we just did what came naturally to a couple kids without inhibitions."

"Right there on the beach? I was kinda expecting something more romantic."

"Hey, like I said, it was strange times we were living in. We weren't the only ones cutting loose. We lived in the now back then 'cause it's all we had. We fought hard, then we partied hard because there wasn't any point holding back. I know it's not the way normal couples meet, but we weren't exactly normal. Anyways, after a while we were laying there, worn-out and watching the sunset, when we got to talking. Turned out we had a lot in common. We were both Turks, both orphans from the Midgar slums. We both specialized in sniping and shared a lot of views 'n experiences, things were kinda snapping into place with us. The feeling's kinda hard to describe, but you know it when it happens, you know? Kinda like getting caught in a tornado."

"Yeah, I know the feeling."

"So there we were, tired, drunk, and falling in love. We didn't feel like getting up, so we fell asleep right there on the beach wrapped in a towel. Some shithead thought it'd be funny to steal our clothes and towels while we were asleep and we'd kinda forgot sunblock, so we woke up a few hours after sunrise with killer hangovers and bad sunburn in some pretty sensitive areas. Rude told me later he thought we looked funny staggering through town, naked and almost as red as my hair. Probably scared the shit outa the natives."

"You two looked hilarious." Rude declares, walking out onto the balcony and joining his companions in the hot tub. "I think there's a picture in there somewhere."

"Well, we weren't laughing, and I'm sure Elena doesn't want to see my sunburnt ass." Reno closes the album and sets it aside. "Anyways, after a few stops to empty our stomachs, we finally found the hotel. We wound up crashing in my room. We had room service bring up coffee, aspirin, and aloe. The burns were bad enough the aloe was all we wore for about a day. So we sat around up there talking and having fun smearing aloe on each other while waiting for the burns to finish healing. We spent the rest of the week mostly out on the beach. After that we took leave together whenever we could manage it, but it wasn't nearly often enough. We sent each other letters and pictures whenever we could, but didn't see much of each other until after the cease-fire when we got to work together hunting down die-hard Wutains who'd gone guerrilla. Then we got ordered back to Midgar and shit happened."

Reno throws back the rest of his drink and is silent for a moment, eyes closed. "That's enough depressing old stories for today. Rude and I've been talking. Elena, remember when you joined and were told you're on probation till you prove yourself or screw up badly? Well, congratulations Turk, you proved yourself today. We both think you did great down there." The normally talkative Turk is, for one of the few occasions in her life, struck speechless. Her eyes light up and an expression of combined pride and joy suffuses her face. "Normally we'd celebrate with steaks and a pub crawl, but all the bars and restaurants are probably closed right now, so this'll have to do." That said, he pulls out the Champagne bottle and pops the cork, sending it flying over the roofline. He then passes around the Champaign flutes and fills them.

"Congratulations, Elena," Rude states, raising his glass.

"Thanks, guys," she replies, still at a loss for words.

"Traditionally, after the pub crawl we'd set the new Turk up with a couple hookers. They'd be kinda hard to find with the evacuation going on, but remind me when this is over and I'll hire you a couple male escorts," Reno states, enjoying his drink.

"Err... you really don't need to..." Elena stammers, beginning to blush.

"Don't worry, you're worth it. Hell, I'll buy you three if you want." Reno looks up and notices Elena furiously blushing. "All right, I won't insist if you don't want any. It's not like it's a required initiation rite or anything. Anyways, we weren't surprised you made it," he says, deciding changing the subject would be smart. "After the war we could take our time in scouting potential Turks. I knew you had potential back when I read the orders to capture a hacker who managed to break into the Shin-Ra mainframe and kill the troops sent to arrest her."

"That was you!" Elena exclaims, remembering being blindsided and knocked out after she thought she'd eluded all pursuit.

"Yep. I shadowed you for two days before making my move and you still managed to stick me with that switchblade." He points to a small scar between two ribs. "Impressed the hell out of me. So I put a big-ass recommendation to hire in the mission report."

"But that was two years ago. Why'd I get stuck in the Information Warfare department if you thought I'd make a good Turk?"

"The plan was to leave you in IW another year or two to sharpen those skills before bringing you in. That way we'd have our own IW expert on the team and not have to rely on outside people anymore. We had to improvise and rush your training, but you've done great anyways, Lena."

They sit in silence for a few minutes as they finish the Champaign before Elena speaks up again, slightly slurring her words. "Heey Reno, got anything to eat around here? I haven't eaten since breakfast." On being reminded, all three feel sudden hunger pangs, as breakfast was a pot of coffee and a box of doughnuts hurriedly split three ways before leaving the office in the morning.

"Oughta be something in the fridge." Reno, an experienced drinker, sounds fully sober as he replies. Rude, being the closest to the door, leads the way. Opening the fridge reveals about two cases worth of beer, several bottles of wine, a pizza box, a few boxes of Wutaian take-out, and condiments.

Reaching over Rude's shoulder, Elena grabs one of the take-out boxes as Rude grabs another. Opening it, she wrinkles her nose at the smell. "Ewww... I think it used to be some general Godo's chicken. What'd you find?"

"Moldy curry..." Rude replies.

"Yuck," Elena says, placing the box back. She then grabs a beer. "Hey, microbrew." After twisting the cap off, she takes a swig.

"Beer me," Reno commands. Elena tosses a bottle across the room towards him that he catches with practiced ease despite having a blood-alcohol content high enough to send a non-Mako enhanced person into a coma. Rude opens the pizza box and shakes his head sadly before closing it and shoving it back into the fridge. He grabs a beer then closes the door. "Try the freezer," Reno suggests.

"Jackpot!" Rude pulls out a frozen pizza and throws it like a frisbee towards Reno, who catches it and turns towards his microwave.

"Looks like I'm gonna need a bigger microwave..." Reno states.

"What if you tilt it on it's side?" Elena suggests.

"Nope. Door won't close."

"Maybe you're supposed to use the oven?" Rude speculates.

Reno checks the label. "Shit, you're right. Alright, let's see. Step one, preheat to 350 degrees." The three walk over to the oven and stare at an unfamiliar array of buttons and knobs. "Where the hell's the preheat button?"

"Has this thing got a manual?" Elena wonders.

"I've got an idea!" Reno proclaims. "Follow me." He hands the pizza back to Rude and leads the way back to the balcony, grabbing a bottle of Rum on the way.

"You're kidding, right?" Rude asks.

"It'll be just like that time I grilled a rack of ribs," Reno answers while turning on his propane tank.

"Burnt on one side and raw in the middle?" Reno jokingly takes a lazy backhand swing at Rude with the barbecue tongs for this comment, which Rude easily ducks.

"Hey, watch this," Reno says, turning on the burners and taking a swig of Rum.

"Shit, don't!" Rude reflexively yells when he hears the dreaded phrase. He's too far away to stop Reno from flicking his lighter in front of his face and spitting the mouthful of Rum across the flame and towards the grill. The resulting fireball knocks Reno onto his rear where he begins laughing, shortly joined by his comrades.

"Alright, gimme the pizza." Reno unwraps it and tosses the frozen thin crust pizza on the grill. All seems to be going well until the crust softens and sags between the bars on the grill, allowing toppings to fall inside. "So much for that idea." Reno grabs the edge of the pizza with the tongs and flings it over the balcony. It sails out over the edge of the plate like a wobbly frisbee, finally crashing down in the wasteland around the city. "Time for plan B. Good old ramen." He then leads the way back into the kitchen.


	6. Turkish Hangover Cure

"Urgh..." Elena wakes up with a killer headache, upset stomach, and no idea where she is. The smell of coffee wafts in from the other room, along with some sort of music that seems way too loud and the more faint sound of running water. Feeling a lump under her pillow, she reaches for it, finding a pistol. _Great. That music's way too damned loud._ she thinks.

She focuses a bit on one of the materia orbs in the pistol's grip, and then relaxes as the soothing waves of the esuna spell wash through her body.

As her headache fades, her stomach settles, and the more subtle damage done by last night's binge heals, memories from the previous night return, along with snatches of conversation. 'Come on Reno, be a gentleman...' 'Alright, 'Lena. Take the bed. Lemme grab some blankets for the couches first.' _So, this is Reno's bedroom_. Elena opens her no longer bloodshot eyes and sees herself. _Somehow I'm not surprised he has a mirror on his ceiling... With his reputation I'm almost surprised he doesn't have one of those heart-shaped vibrating beds... Hey, are these silk sheets? Ohhh, this is nice.._. Having never been in a bed as comfortable, Elena indulges herself and spends a few minutes simply enjoying the silken embrace of the sheets as the round king-sized waterbed cradles her body.

As her hangover fades, the music from the other room ceases to seem obnoxiously loud and becomes faint. Although she doesn't recognize the song, Elena recognizes the music as blues, a style of music from the slums. It sounds familiar, but she can't place the tune. Listening, Elena hears lines about pain, regret, and surviving just to spite the world. Fairly typical slum blues. Like most former slum dwellers, hearing this music causes mixed emotions in Elena. On one hand she feels sorrow from painful memories, but on the other she feels pride at having escaped the slums. Like her fellow Turks, she'd beaten the slums, literally risen above them, and would never have to search through a dumpster for a meal or worry about finding a safe place to sleep again.

Shaking off her morning lethargy, Elena throws the sheets aside and sees that she'd at least been sober enough to change into a large t-shirt instead of sleeping in a wet swimsuit. Looking down, she notices the t-shirt she was wearing had a picture of a large gift tag on the front with the words 'To: Women, From: God' on it. _Must be one of Reno's._ Elena had heard stories of how Reno was responsible for the end of casual fridays at Shin-Ra HQ, but had never before viewed one of the notorious shirts that had triggered so many complaints to the HR department.

Rolling out of bed, Elena glances around the sparsely furnished bedroom. One wall was taken up entirely by curtains and the opposite was halfway filled by a closet. Aside from the bed, the only other furniture was a large dresser with a drawer hanging open and a shelf with a small stereo on it. Stepping over to the drawer she apparently left open the night before, Elena spots shirts laying in it with slogans like 'I Taught Your Girlfriend That Thing You Like', 'Free Midgar Zolom Rides', 'Easy Like Sunday Morning', and worse. Laughing at a particularly obscene shirt and the thought that Reno had actually worn it to the office, she slides the drawer shut and exits the bedroom.

Stepping into the main room Elena sees Reno, eyes closed and wearing a tattered pair of sweats that had been cut down into shorts, smoothly flowing through a martial arts form. Most people who know Reno don't think he takes anything seriously, but Elena knows of three things that he does. Getting the job done professionally, taking care of his team, and having an edge. Reflecting on their conversation from the previous night, Elena realizes that the intense practice she was seeing serves a dual purpose for Reno, keeping his edge sharp and his mind too busy to think about the past.

"Enjoying the show Lena?" Reno teases when he notices Elena standing in the doorway.

"Not as much as you're enjoying showing off," she retorts with a small smile. "Just need to get yourself some tighter shorts and one of those little bowties and you might make a little extra cash when you work out." She glances into the kitchen and is disappointed to see the coffee's barely started.

"Earning tips from the ladies at the gym, huh?" Reno smirks. He really enjoys having a co-worker who actually snipes back when he teases her instead of getting angry or sulky. He'd seen early on that Elena has a mischievous side hidden under the eager to please overachiever she presents to the world. Reno sees glimpses of this side every time they joke around like this. "Heh, I've actually got one of those little bowties."

"What? Why would you have one of those?"

"It's a souvenir from one of my more fun missions," he explains while continuing his form. "A ladies club was suspected of being a front for a smuggling ring and they sent me in undercover to check it out. After a few weeks of having women stuff gil down the front of my thong I found the info to crack the ring and went home with about 10,000 gil in tips."

"Hey, I guess we all know how you'll make a living if the consultant thing doesn't work out," Elena teases, certain that Reno's exaggerating about how many tips he'd earned.

"Heh, yeah I guess if business gets slow I've always got that," Reno laughs. "Hey, they've got the reactors back up. How about checking the news?" He waves towards a Shin-Ra PC terminal mounted on the wall near the other end of the room. As she crosses the room Elena's amused to notice that it's easy to tell who slept on which couch. One has a neatly folded blanket sitting on it and the other has a wadded-up blanket in the floor in front of it. Walking past the bathroom, she can't help but giggle at the sight of Rude with his scalp and face covered in shaving cream.

"What?" he asks, turning.

"That's an interesting look for you," she replies. Finally seeing what Rude looks like without sunglasses, Elena's surprised to see that he has soft baby blue eyes. "Hey, cute eyes. Why'd you keep them covered all the time?"

Reno laughs at this comment. "Kinda hard to be intimidating with cute eyes, 'Lena."

"Appearances are important in this business," Rude states before resuming shaving. As he turns back to the mirror, Elena notices a tattoo on his right arm that stretches from shoulder to elbow, a thin stylized dagger with hawk wings for a cross-guard and a skull with flaming eye sockets for a pommel.

"Hey, how come you two've got the same tattoo?" Elena asks.

"This?" Reno looks down at his old tattoo. "It's our calling card from back in the war. All the top Turk teams had one. Some Soldier units did it too. We had packs of cards printed up with our symbol that we'd scatter around after a mission so Wong'd know who hit him."

"Wong?" Elena asks while booting up Reno's PC.

"Did I say Wong? Huh, haven't used that for a while. I guess it's all this reminiscing... Anyways, that's what we called Wutaian troops back during the war."

Elena logs onto the Shin-Ra intranet. "Looks like you were right, Reno. The company's falling apart. Wutai and everything on the western continent's declared their independence after hearing about Rufus's death. Reeve's managed to grab what's left, but his control's shaky."

"If it sounds that bad on the company's site, you can bet it's a hell of a lot worse," Reno pessimistically predicts.

"Yeah, they put a spin on everything," Rude adds as he walks into the room, precisely tying his tie. His sunglasses are back in their accustomed place.

"They've declared martial law in the slums." Elena's interrupted by a ding from the kitchen when the coffee maker finishes. She continues as the trio files into the kitchen, hungry for caffeine. "The riots're over. They claim the evacuation's going great." Silence reigns briefly while the three Turks pour themselves mugs of steaming coffee and enjoy their first sips of the morning. "So, what've you got around here for breakfast, Reno?"

"Well there's this diner around the corner I like to go to, but they've probably evacuated. Real shame, they made the best damned omelets. There's some eggs in the fridge, but I've been out of town over a month so they've probably gone bad." Reno searches through the kitchen cabinets. "I've got a couple boxes of toaster tarts."

Rude checks the freezer. "...found some microwave sausage."

"Heh, real healthy meal there," Elena remarks sarcastically.

"It may not be the most balanced, but it'll taste better than dog food," Reno replies, using the common slang term for Shin-Ra army rations. "I've got a crate of that in back if you wanna eat healthy." he continues with a slight smirk.

Elena jokingly makes a disgusted face. "I'll stick with tasty and unhealthy." Within seconds Reno's microwave hums away. "What's the plan for today, boss?"

"First thing after we all get dressed is to round up some transport. Then we're packing up and heading to Junon. All the command's staff's either locked themselves in the underground bunkers or taken off, so we'll be able to pull rank and get whatever we need there."

"Hey Reno, there's something I've been wondering for a while," Elena says between bites of a toaster tart. "How'd you get these?" she asks while reaching out with a finger and tracing one of the scars on his cheeks.

"I usually don't answer that," Reno says, staring into his mug. "But I'll make an exception for you. They're a couple more souvenirs from the war, from the time I got captured. I told you before that Turks worked in pairs in the war. When one got killed or wounded bad enough they couldn't fight, the leftover got temporarily assigned to another team until their partner healed up or got replaced."

"Rude was on medical leave healing up from a katana through the gut, so they put me in charge of a pair of rookies fresh outa training. I forget their real names, but I called them Stubby and Bubba. You know how I am about trying to stick everyone with nicknames. Stubby was a real short guy, and Bubba was from out in the country around the Mythril Mines. Their first mission was to take out a major bridge near the center of Wutai, cutting the biggest supply line to their front. Not the type of mission they'd normally send rookies on, but they had me along and I coulda done as well solo, maybe better." Reno pauses his story for a sip of coffee.

"Now I'm not saying that to be arrogant or anything, I was officially one of the best we had. See, the company ranked the various Turk teams on efficiency and effectiveness to help make decisions like who gets issued the most expensive equipment, assigned the toughest missions, stuff like that. The team with two old Turks from before the war had the top spot locked in for the whole war, but me 'n Rude's team were in the top three for nearly the entire war."

A sad smile crosses Reno's face. "So was Angel's team. Me and her had a bit of a contest going. Whenever we could get together, whoever was rated lower would... well do favors for the other. The type of favors that're as much fun to give as to get, if you catch my drift. Whatever the winner wanted. Heh, I never could decide if it was more fun to win or lose that contest." A faraway look comes into Reno's eyes as he pauses again.

"So anyways, the mission to destroy that bridge and look after a couple rookies looked pretty easy. The plan was to slip in and out unnoticed, so we went in armed light, just sidearms and blades. We could carry more explosives that way and move quicker on the way out. Drop off was by sub and they planed to pick us up the same way. We went out the torpedo tubes with SCUBA gear and after about a half-mile swim in the dark we were there."

"Things were going real smooth, all the charges were set and we were climbing around under the bridge setting the timers when a patrol showed up. Either they were way the hell ahead of schedule or our spies screwed up. One of the newbies got a little twitchy, made some noise, and Wong was onto us. So I jump back into the water, yelling for them to follow. Mission planners figured getting discovered on the way out was possible, so we were using dual-mode detonators. Soon as we were outa range I used the manual remote, blew the bridge with the patrol still on it. Patrol boats were closing in, so I led us back up the side and into the bush."

"We'd found a clear spot and radioed for pick up when Wong caught up to us, trying to bring us in alive for questioning. For what it's worth, we managed to run through all our ammo, plus the ammo in a few captured rifles, and had blood on our blades before they dragged us down."

"I woke up in a POW camp. They got a little pissed when they saw this," Reno says while pointing to his tattoo. "So they gave me these pretty early on." he says while pointing to the scars running across his cheeks. "I found out later it was a sort of ritual punishment for someone that caused them a lot of damage. They called it 'tears of blood'. I never did get the symbolism behind it, but I kinda took it as a compliment on my skills. It also meant they had a painful execution planned for when they finished interrogating me. Interrogation was mostly beatings. Those bastards really liked using wire whips." Reno turns and pulls his hair aside, revealing a densely packed mass of criss-crossing scars. Releasing his hair, he turns back.

"I've told you before how hard it was recruiting Turks. Once our spies got word back that all three of us were alive and in one piece, command saw it as ultra valuable pieces of war material being held by the enemy and started planning a rescue. The PR if they managed to pull out the other POWs would be a nice bonus too. Rude was mostly healed up by then and pulled some strings to get on the rescue mission. So did Angel and her partner, Elhaym. Most people just called her Elly."

"The three of them crept in and planted charges on the generator, radio transmitter, guard towers, and the guard barracks. When they blew the charges it killed most of the guards, cut the rest off from outside, and signaled a circling Gelnika overhead that dropped a platoon of Soldier airbornes. The three of them cut across camp for the shack the three of us were being held in, going right through any guards dumb enough to get in their way. Angel came crashing through that door with a big dagger in hand, blood up both arms to the elbows, and death in her eye. Scared the crap outa a lot of the other prisoners, but when I was laying there bleeding into that bamboo cot I swear I'd never seen her look more beautiful, even though she was wearing that baggy cammo. Rude was almost tripping on her heels rushing in the door behind her."

"It was almost a race..." Rude adds. "As soon as we got through the fence, Angela and I sprinted the whole way to the shack. We didn't even stop to deal with guards, just cut them down and kept running."

"Angel was on me with her med-kit before I knew what hit me. Business before pleasure. She went through the bandages in her kit and half of Rude's while Rude and Elly stood guard. After Angel made sure I wasn't going to bleed to death in her arms she kissed me. Real interesting kiss, it had the taste of my own blood mixed with tears of joy from us both. Yeah, I know that's really damned corny, being so damned glad to see someone again you cry over her. Probably had something to do with delirium from dehydration and all the beatings. Anyway, that was my excuse, I never heard what her's was." Reno says with a sad little smile at the old inside joke.

"Sometime during all this patching and smooching the Soldier boys hit dirt outside and mopped up the rest of the guards. A whole damn swarm of med-evac choppers and gunships came in behind them and started loading up prisoners. Most of us weren't in any shape to walk, so that took a while. It really surprised me when Angel picked me up in a fireman's carry and carried me out to a chopper. This was back when Mako injections were still going through field testing with Soldier and I normally outweighed her by about forty pounds."

"I had one of my longer medical leaves after that. Rude got to stay with Angel's team while I recovered, the lucky bastard. That sorta thing didn't happen too often since command tried to avoid mixed teams. Claimed it'd cause 'unnecessary distractions'. When they weren't in the field, they were giving me some damned good visits. Heh, Rude and Elly had a real knack for knowing when to give us some privacy."

"I thought you said you met her screwing around on a public beach. Why would you need privacy?" Elena asks.

"We liked to be alone when we got to talking seriously. We didn't need privacy for messing around. Hell, when I'd healed up enough to mess around, Rude and Elly were standing right there in the hospital room cheering us on, making all sorts of crazy suggestions." Reno laughs a bit. "That probably sounds really perverted, but it's just how things were back then. We were all damned good friends and they were seriously glad to see I hadn't been permanently damaged. Once the pillow talk started to get serious, Rude and Elly took off. I'm sure they didn't mind since those two had the whole 'friends with benefits' thing to keep them busy."

"Benefits?" Elena asks, unfamiliar with the term.

"Yeah, you know," Reno makes a thrusting gesture with his hips, "benefits. You don't see it so much anymore, but it happened alot back then. Once I was up to walking again, those three were dragging me all over the place." He laughs a little. "I was the only guy on the beach with an IV bag."

"I'm surprised the doctors let you out like that," Elena states.

"They didn't want to, but we were very... persuasive," Rude says with a devious smile.

"I don't know how they managed to be between missions at the right time, but they even managed to make sure I didn't spend my eighteenth birthday sitting alone in a hospital room. That's how I spent my fifteenth, wasn't exactly what I'd call fun. I don't know how the hell they got their hands on it, but Rude and Elly walked into my room that morning pushing one of those cheesy giant cardboard cakes. Angel pops out wearing nothing but a pair of those fake bunny ears and a smile and starts singing 'happy birthday'. I wasn't sure if I should laugh at how corny it was or tear off my hospital gown and climb into that cake with her."

"So he sat there with a goofy looking grin instead," Rude interjects with one of his rare smiles on his normally impassive face.

Reno chuckles while refilling his mug. "Best damned birthday ever, even if I did look stupid. Hell of a lot better than my seventeenth. I spent that one getting rained on, laying in the mud in some bushes, staring through my rifle's scope, and waiting for my target to show up. As cool as the cake gag was, they had another gift, hospital discharge papers. I wasn't fit for duty yet, but it was damned good to get back to my place. Officer's quarters was a commandeered hotel. Rude and me shared a dinky little room, maybe ten feet square plus a small bathroom. It had a couple tiny futons and a little TV bolted to the wall."

"It got kinda crowded sometimes when all four of us were off, but we mostly just slept there. Most of our downtime was spent hanging out at bars and beaches while we waited for command to give us a mission. Hell, we need to get to work. Can't believe I've been rambling on like this, we've been done eating nearly a half-hour. I think you're being a bad influence on me, Lena," he jokes with a smirk.

"Reno, you talk too much," Elena says in her best imitation of Reno, even copying his trademark smirk. This draws a surprised laugh from her two companions.

"Touché," Reno says with a grin. "Guess you're not the only one being a bad influence. Hey, since you slept in and missed your chance to get first dibs on the shower, I'll let you have second. Rude and me'll be working back there." he says while pointing to a door on the other end of the kitchen. He and Rude refill their mugs before heading that way.

Walking into the main room while thinking about the story she'd just heard, Elena stops to retrieve clean slacks, dress shirt, and underwear from her duffel bag. Continuing into the bathroom, she's surprised to see the pile of equipment from the previous day missing. After setting her clean clothes on the counter, she slips off what she'd slept in and adds it to the pile of filthy clothes from the previous day, and then steps into the shower, still thinking about Reno's story.

* * *

Seating themselves in front of a large, battered table that sits against one of the walls of Reno's storage room, Reno and Rude sit down their mugs and get to work cleaning the equipment piled there. "What's with all the old stories?" Rude asks while expertly field stripping his submachine gun.

"Just teaching the new blood some Turk history," Reno calmly replies as he swiftly disassembles his sidearm.

"Bullshit," Rude says while cleaning his SMG's gas tube with a long cotton swab. "You never talk about Angela with anyone, not even Tseng. It's not like you to pour your heart out like you've been doing. What's the real reason?"

Reno's quiet for a minute, deep in thought as his hands smoothly perform the familiar tasks involved in weapon maintenance without conscious guidance. "I don't know, man. When she came out to the hot tub in that swimsuit with her hair back, Lena looked a lot like Angel. I had to tell her something to explain why I got that shocked look on my face when I saw her. I shoulda stopped right there, but it just kept coming for some reason. Same thing this morning."

"I'll tell you why," Rude states, "you're falling for her."

"What!" Shocked, Reno's hands slip, spilling a bottle of powder solvent and sending his sidearm's recoil spring flying across the room. "Shit!" he yells as he races after the errant spring.

"You wouldn't have jumped like that if I hadn't hit the mark," Rude calmly states as Reno returns to the table with the spring. "You should ask her out when this's all over."

Reno once again works in silence, thinking deeply. He finishes reassembling his sidearm and starts on the next weapon. "I'll admit she's cute, but every time I look at her, I don't just see her, I see Angel's ghost there too. I'm not gonna use Lena as a substitute, she deserves better. Besides, she talks too much."

"Excuses..." Rude responds. "Elena may resemble Angela, but that's the only similarity. You can't deny their personalities are completely different. And you both talk too much. One of these days you're going to have to stop running away every time you start to fall for someone. You know Angela wanted you to move on."

"You think I don't know that? We both figured we probably wouldn't live long with the type of missions we did. We both agreed whoever lived longer should go on with life and enjoy however much they had left." Reno sighs. "Heh, if Angel could see me now she'd probably be disgusted with how weak I'm being."

"No," Rude disagrees, "Angela knew you better than you know yourself. She knew you'd have trouble moving on. She even tried to get Elly and I to promise to help you find someone else if we lived long enough." Rude pauses to sip his coffee. "Elly told her 'You mustn't think we're very good friends if you think you need to get a promise out of us for that'. I told her 'Turks stick together, we would've done it even if you'd never asked'. She really liked hearing that, gave us one of those 'angelic' smiles she normally reserved for you. We didn't tell her, but Elly and I thought Angela'd have trouble moving on too."

"Well, that explains why you've tried playing matchmaker so much over the years. I'd always thought it was 'cause Elly'd been a bad influence on you. If both of you'd made it through the war, you'd probably have me married off by now..." Rude chuckles at this thought. A nostalgic smile briefly crosses his face as he remembers how him and Elly had made a game of setting each other up with people and then comforting each other when things didn't work out. Seeing an opening, Reno continues, "so, now that we're all fighting on the same team, are you gonna try making a move on Tifa? I still remember what you said back in Gongaga."

"She's got her eyes on Strife. And you're not going to change the subject that easily."

"He's still pineing over that dead Ancient. Plenty of room for you to swoop in and make your move," Reno continues, not giving up on changing the subject.

"Maybe." Rude decides to attack from a different angle. "You know Elena finally managed to get Tseng to ask her out?"

"Really? I'm kinda surprised the way she went after him worked. So when'd they go out?" Reno asked, relieved that his attempt to change the subject had apparently worked.

"They didn't. He told her he'd take her to dinner after getting back from the mission to the temple."

"Shit. Poor Lena..."

"You could help her get over it. Ask her out, it'll be good for both of you."

"...you're not gonna give up on this, are you?"

"Nope. Elly taught me too well for that," Rude calmly replies.

Reno runs a hand through his hair, leaving a smear of gun oil on his forehead. "Heh, well..." Reno cuts off as the sound of running water from the bathroom stops. "I'll think about it," he continues in a whisper. "Gotta take care of business before taking time for my personal problems." He then stands up and walks out of the room, on his way to the soon to be vacant bathroom.

* * *

After finishing brushing her hair into place and wishing Reno owned a hair dryer, Elena exits the bathroom and is surprised to see Reno waiting there with a wad of clean clothing in one hand. He swiftly steps past her into the bathroom without a word and Elena hears the sound of running water a moment later. "Geez, someone's in a hurry..."

* * *

As the shocking ice cold water pours over him, Reno focuses on a mental technique taught to him by Tseng years ago that allows him to sublimate worry about personal problems and focus on the job. He hasn't needed to use this technique since preparing for the mission to destroy sector seven.

* * *

After stopping in the kitchen for a fresh mug of coffee, Elena enters the back room and stops, surprised at the armory she sees.

Rack after rack of arms line the walls and several freestanding shelves of other equipment sit in the center of the room. She inhales the pleasant scents of coffee and gun oil, mixed in the air with the acrid odors of powder solvent and leather cleaner. Most of what she sees are concealable weapons, the bread and butter of a Turk on the job. A wide assortment of handguns, carbines, short shotguns, submachineguns, knives, clubs, small swords, and more exotic implements dominate the room. Several larger weapons are also present, assorted full-sized rifles, light machineguns, a few heavy machineguns, and even a solitary shoulder-fired anti-tank missile that was leaning against one corner of the room.

"Wow..." she breathes, awed at the collection. Walking up to the nearest shelf, Elena scans the labels of a series of bottles sitting on one of the shelves, spotting assorted useful chemicals like sodium pentathol, potassium cyanide, chloroform, and others. Glancing at nearby shelves, she spots surveillance and counter-surveillance gear, small bins of materia, assorted explosives, and many cases of ammunition.

"This's pretty typical for a major safehouse." Rude explains, seeing Elena's surprised look. "Everything we could need for nearly any type of mission we might be given. It's a lot more efficient than waiting until we need something and sending a request to the armaments department." Elena nods at this, familiar with how slow the armaments department was.

"Why're these ones out in the middle?" Elena asks while pointing to a small table in the center of the room with a small horizontal rack on it that holds four battered old rifles, all fitted with old-fashioned wooden stocks. Two of them were bolt-action rifles with large scopes and the other two were automatic rifles with long bayonets mounted on them.

"The two lefty rifles are what Reno used in the war. The other two were Angela's." Rude answers.

"Oh. What's this?" she asks while pointing to a small metal disc on a chain that hung from the barrel of the left-handed sniper rifle.

"Old Wutai military ID. It used to belong to their top sniper. Reno kept it as a trophy after killing him in a sniper duel." Rude answers while applying a thin coat of gun oil to the blade of a throwing knife, then slipping the blade into the sheath built into his jacket.

Elena sits at the large table and gets to work on her gear. "I guess you two've been through a lot together, huh?"

"Yeah."

"So what was it like back then?"

"Unusual. We were on the brink of death most of the time, but we felt incredibly alive. It's hard to describe," he says as he finishes cleaning his last piece of equipment. Placing the snub-nosed magnum revolver into a coat pocket, Rude moves on to Reno's pile.

"Hey, I think this one's stuck," Elena says, holding up her hideout piece.

"Those always have a tight fit on the takedown bar. Use this," He suggests, handing over a small rubber mallet.

"Thanks," she says when the mallet loosens the stubborn part. She starts to hand it pack, but Rude shakes his head.

"You'll need it again to get it back in." Finished with Reno's pile, he reaches over and starts helping Elena with her pile.

"Almost finished?" Reno asks, stepping back into the room wearing a wrinkled pair of slacks and an untucked, unbuttoned dress shirt. Walking over to the table, he begins to strap on his gunbelt and shoulder harness.

"Last one," Elena announces as she snaps her hideout pistol back together. Rude waits patiently while Reno and Elena don their jackets, shoes, and weapons and Elena ties her tie.

"Alright, let's go round up some transport," Reno commands. The trio makes a detour in the kitchen to fill insulated travel mugs with coffee, then exit the apartment and wait for the elevator after Reno presses the button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've come to the conclusion that the paragraphs in some of my old fics are just too damn big. So many ginormous walls of text I had to break up into more digestable chunks when proofreading this. And somehow, I still had two instances of 'soldier' spelled as 'solider'. Gotta love those typos that slide right through spellcheck...


	7. Plots and Preparations

As the Turks step into the elevator, they briefly hear the tinny strains of some annoying elevator music emenating from a small speaker mounted in a corner of the elevator. Briefly, because as soon as he steps into the elevator, Reno flicks out his electro mag rod and smashes the speaker. "I've been wanting to do that ever since I moved in here," he says while replacing his EMR on his belt with one hand and pressing a button on the elevator with the other. "God, I hate easy-listening..."

"Why're we going up?" Elena asks.

"I've got a short-range chopper on the roof. If it's still there it'll be a lot easier to get around town." When the doors open, the three see one of the small choppers commonly used by Shin-Ra sitting near the center of the roof. "Hey Lena, wanna fly?" Reno asks, holding out a key in her direction.

Her eyes light up at the suggestion. Reno and Rude have been teaching her to fly whenever they have the time while chasing their targets around the world, and Elena relishes every chance she gets to pilot aircraft. Tseng had disapproved due to neither Turk being a certified instructor, but had turned a blind eye since there wasn't enough time for proper training. She loves the feeling she gets when flying, so Elena snatches the key from Reno's hand without hesitating and nearly runs to the chopper. Reno's voice stops her as she's reaching for the door handle.

"Forget something?" he asks. Elena blushes, embarrassed that she was so eager to fly that she forgot about the pre-flight inspection. Pocketing the key, she begins to slowly make her way around the chopper, carefully inspecting the turbines, rotors, hydraulics, and other important parts with Reno watching over her shoulder the whole time. "That everything?" Reno asks when she comes to a halt.

Elena takes a moment to think on her previous brief lessons before answering. "Everything's ready to go." She nervously waits to see if he'll point out that she missed something.

"Doing damned good so far, Lena," he says, to her relief. "What's next?"

"Checking the instruments," she answers. At Reno's nod Elena climbs into the cockpit and straps herself into the pilot's seat while Reno settles into the co-pilot seat and Rude takes a seat in the back. "Ready for takeoff," she announces with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Relax, you're doing great," Reno says with a lopsided grin. "Fly us to the office, the lower hanger. It didn't get hit too bad, should be something useful in there." Elena fires up the turbines and pushes the throttle forward, causing the chopper to roughly leap into the air. "Come on, relax," Reno says. "You'll never fly half as good as you could if ya stay all tensed up like that. Don't worry about screwing up, I'll cover for you if it happens. Just loosen up and enjoy the flight." Elena tries to follow his advice, but worry over messing up again keep her from fully relaxing.

After a short, uneventful flight they approach the lower hanger, an opening in the side of the 48th floor of the Shin-Ra building. "Alright, take it slow," Reno coaches her. "Just slide right in there, nice and easy..." Elena notices that Reno has one hand hovering over the button that switches control to the co-pilot and the other on his control stick. Determined to impress her friends and not mess up, Elena carefully guides the chopper through the opening. Inside, the hanger's nearly empty, as most of the vehicles have already been looted. "I thought so. Set us down by those planes in the corner," Reno orders with a satisfied look on his face.

The planes in question were very unusual looking, with wings that appeared to have been twisted until the prop-driven engines pointed up and were also folded back along the plane's sides. Otherwise, they resembled slimmer Gelnikas with rotors twice the size of those on a Gelnika and engines mounted near the ends of the wings. "They look broken," Elena observes as she sets the chopper down and shuts it off.

"Nah, that's normal. Those're called VSTOLs. I figured even if all the other shit was gone they'd still be here."

"Why's that? What's so bad about it that people wouldn't take it?" Elena asks as she climbs out of the chopper.

"It's because these never caught on. They're expensive to build and it's hard to learn to fly them. See, they take off and land like choppers and fly like planes. Switching's tricky, plus they can't do an auto-rotation landing. There's maybe three dozen people on the planet that got trained on these before they cut the budget, mosta them're posted in Junon or Rocket Town. They come in handy sometimes, so we keep a few around here," Reno explains. "Hey Rude, see if you can dig up some drop tanks. Come'er Lena, I'll show you how to pre-flight one of these bad boys." Reno leads Elena over to the nearest plane and opens the engine access hatch. "Look familiar?"

"It kinda looks like a Gelnika's engine."

"Right. These things use modded Gelnika engines. Cheaper that way." He points into the engine. "This thingy changes the prop angle so you can fly it like a chopper." Reno casually points out a few other, more minor, differences. "This one's good. Lena, take a look at the other engine, tell me what you think."

As the impromptu lesson that was typical of Elena's hurried training since her promotion continues, Rude returns pushing a wide, flat cart with four large, teardrop-shaped aluminum tanks on it. "Extra fuel tanks," Reno explains. He points at a protrusion on the bottom of a wing near an engine. "These things're called hardpoints. See the little valves on the ones next to the engine? Hooks into the fuel system." The lesson continues as Reno attaches a tank and Rude walks to the other side of the plane. Under Reno's guidance, Elena attaches the other tank to it's hardpoint on the other side of the engine while Rude installs the two on the other wing. Rude then walks to the nearest fueling station and returns pulling a fuel hose behind him. "With these on, we got enough range we could fly to Rocket Town from here and still have fuel left. More'n enough to get our asses to Junon."

"Hey Rude, come here," Reno orders when he sees that Rude has the fuel hose connected and the pump started. "Way I hear it, even if this Holy thing works there's a good chance some sorta fallout or something'll mess up Midgar. It's why Reeve's evacuating it. Anyways, we've got plenty of time before we need to be in Junon. So when this thing finishes filling up, go ahead and take it by your places and pack up. It probably won't be needed, but we might as well get ready for that possibility since we've time. Meet me back at my place when you're done. Also, see if you can dig up some useful gear for the VSTOL. If things work out right, we oughta get some good use outa it when we go freelance."

"What'll you be doing?" Elena asks.

"Plotting," he replies with a smirk before turning and walking to the chopper they arrived on.

"Can I fly it?" Elena asks as Reno flies off.

"Sorry," Rude replies, "you're not ready yet. You need to be an expert at piloting normal planes and helicopters before training on VSTOLS." Seeing her crestfallen expression, he continues. "As fast as you learn, it won't be long before you're flying one of these." Rude silently congratulates himself when he sees his friend's face light up at the honest compliment. A man of few words, the few he speaks are generally carefully chosen.

"Hey Rude, you have any luggage I can borrow? I kinda don't have anything to move out with."

"Neither do I. This pump'll shut itself off when the tanks are full. Let's see if the mall downstairs has anything left." The two walk towards the nearest elevator, hoping it still works.

"Hey, good idea Rude. But I thought the building's been evacuated. Guess we'll just help ourselves to what we need, huh?" Rude nods at this. "But what if it's already been cleaned out by looters?" He shrugs as the elevator door opens. She presses the button for the lobby as they enter the elevator. "What'll we use if the luggage's all gone?"

"...looters'll mainly go after expensive things like electronics. I doubt much luggage's been taken."

* * *

Walking back into his apartment, Reno picks up the almost overflowing catch bin sitting in front of his fax machine and grabs a fresh mug of coffee before settling down on one of his couches. Like most slum orphans, he'd been illiterate when recruited, which had made administering an accurate intelligence test difficult for the recruiters. He had been taught to read during basic training, and Tseng had taught him speed-reading after the war. Tseng's lessons come in handy now as he quickly works his way through the large pile of faxes, absorbing any useful information he can find.

* * *

"Hey, look what I found!" At the sound of Elena's voice, Rude turns from his task of mounting an electronic countermeasures module to a hardpoint and sees her exit the elevator pushing a loaded shopping cart with one hand and pulling another behind her. After their successful expedition to the Shin-Ra mall, He'd ordered her to go to the weapons development and armaments departments and take anything that looked useful or would be valuable and easy to sell. Shin-Ra has taken much from the Turks over the years, so Rude feels it's only fair to take a little back as the company shatters.

Elena holds up a compact rifle with what appears to be an oversized pump shotgun mounted under the rifle barrel. From the sleek look of the weapon it's obvious it was designed this way rather than modified. "It's one of those new mini-grenade launchers. They had a half-dozen up in weapons development, so I grabbed them all." She tosses it to Rude, who looks impressed as he checks it out. "I grabbed all the mini-grenades they had too."

"Reno's gonna be pissed," Rude announces, "it's designed for right-handed shooters only."

"Guess he'll have to settle for this." Elena holds up what looks like a long pistol with a canister mounted under the barrel. "Miniaturized flamethrower. Should work fine for a lefty. I also grabbed a few cases of some different types of experimental grenades. And check this out," she says while pointing to the rear cart, "a whole garbage bag full of materia."

"There wasn't anything else to put it in? Well, don't worry about it. I'm almost done here, go ahead and load it up. Take the carts too, they'll make packing easier."

* * *

Reno paces his living room, deep in thought. In one hand he holds the projected map of the northern crater that had been drawn up by Shin-Ra intelligence and in the other he holds a list of vehicles and equipment available at the Junon military base. _Too many damned unknowns. Too bad he's in so deep, if he wasn't I could just send bombers to take him out..._ As he continues to pace, he scans down the list of equipment again and inspiration strikes, fueled by memories of the war. _Yeah, it'll be just like old times_. A smile slowly spreads across his face as he pulls out his PHS and selects the number for Junon command. "This is Reno of the Turks again. You've got some equipment in your boneyard you need to re-commission and have ready for me in forty-eight hours. Here's what I need..."

* * *

"Hey, nice place," Elena says after walking into Rude's front room. It was equipped similarly to Reno's but laid out and decorated differently with the most noticeable difference being light-colored walnut paneling on the walls. Rude leads the way to his bedroom, pushing a shopping cart with several empty suitcases in it.

"It'll be quickest if I sort through things and pass you what's worth taking and you pack," Rude states. He then walks over to his large closet while Elena opens up a suitcase and a garment bag and sets them on Rude's king-sized bed.

"Why've you got so much clothes when you're always wearing these suits?" Elena asks when she sees the large variety of clothing in Rude's closet.

"Sometimes we have to be incognito on missions. And sometimes we want to hang out in a bar without everyone staring at us when we're off. With a good variety of clothes we can do either almost anywhere," he explains as he begins to hand Elena clothes.

"That makes sense," she replies. Over the next few moments several Turk uniforms, a variety of normal business suits, a black trench coat, a brown leather bomber jacket, a black leather blazer, and a classic black tuxedo make their way into the garment bag and a second garment bag that Elena retrieves from the shopping cart. "So Reno's got one of these?" she asks while pointing to the tux.

"Yeah," Rude replies while handing her a rack of ties. "That's all that needs to go in those bags."

"Wow, I can't imagine Reno in a tux," Elena says while zipping the garment bags.

"If you're that curious, maybe you can talk him into trying his on for you when we get back. You might have to twist his arm a little..." Rude suggests as he begins handing over button-down shirts.

"This I've gotta see. Somehow, I just can't imagine him wearing one unless maybe it's wrinkled and half-unbuttoned," Elena says while swiftly finishing the shirts and starting on a small pile of polo shirts.

"Believe it or not, Reno can dress formal when he needs to. But usually only when he can't avoid it..." He places several pairs of slacks on the bed, then moves to his dresser.

"Sounds like a real challenge," Elena states while folding a shirt.

"Let's make it interesting," Rude says while carrying a drawer over to the bed, "five hundred gil says you can't get Reno to model his tux for you."

"You're on," she says. The two Turks shake hands, sealing the deal, then resume packing. A few minutes later they exit the bedroom and take the other cart into Rude's storage room. Like Reno's the storage room is large and well stocked. Several cases of ammo are quickly loaded in the cart followed by Rude's old rifle from the war and a few other favorites. Next are several boxes of spare parts for Rude's preferred weapons, then he pulls an old cardboard box full of holsters from a shelf and begins sorting through them. "Why've you got so many holsters, Rude?" Elena asks.

"...they add up over the years from trying different designs," he answers, tossing a few in the cart, then replacing the box on a shelf.

"I guess that makes sense," she says as they walk back into the living room. Rude steps into the bathroom and quickly packs some toiletries, then exits and grabs a large CD wallet and a worn binder from a shelf in his living room. He then leads the way back into the lobby. "What's in there?" Elena asks, pointing at the binder.

"Old pictures..." he answers, "mostly duplicates of the ones Reno has." He presses the call buttons for both elevators. "Go ahead and take these up and start loading them. There's something downstairs I need to get."

Several minutes later, while strapping luggage down in the cargo bay, Elena looks back when she hears a rumbling growl and sees Rude ride up the rear ramp on a large black Midgar Motors V-6 with lots of chrome on it. "Nice bike," she states. Rude grins and finds a place to strap the bike down.

* * *

"Finally done." Seated in front of his PC, Reno clicks on save, then clicks print twice. Mission plans finished, he leans back and enjoys a smoke. _Guess I should let my temporary teammates know what's going on._ After deciding that, Reno pulls out his PHS and selects a number from the list saved on it.

"Hello?"

"Damn, man, you sound like shit. No offense."

A tired laugh comes from the other end of the line. "Hi, Reno. Diplomatic as always, I see."

"Yeah, that's me, Mr. diplomacy. Seriously though, you sound like shit. You been going without sleep again, Reeve?"

"I'm too busy to get enough sleep. There's still lots of people in Midgar that need evacuated."

"You won't do them any good if you burn yourself out. You're the president now, delegate that stuff to someone under you and get some damned sleep."

"I've already delegated everything I can, otherwise I wouldn't get any sleep. I can't sleep any more if I want to get my job done."

"Hell of a situation you're in, Reeve. So, how's your piece of Shin-Ra holding together?"

"What's left's holding steady. I still have a solid hold on the Midgar area and the eastern half of the continent as far south as the Mythril Mines. Officially I still have Junon too, but they're going to splinter off as soon as the Junon general staff's finished cowering in the underground shelters. So, what about the Turks? Can I count on your help after this's over?"

"Sorta. We're going freelance if we make it through this mission and that Holy thing works, but if you send some work our way we'll take care of it."

"I'm not surprised, you've been wanting to slip your leash ever since the old man made you drop the plate."

"...yeah. This way I'll make sure Rude and Lena never havta face a choice like that..."

"You're still blaming yourself for that? Damn, sorry I brought it up. Reno, you know you didn't have any real choice."

"Sure I did. Instead of pressing that button and snuffing half a million people I coulda taken the long shot..."

"And made it worse," Reeve interrupts. "Old man Shin-Ra would've found someone else to press the button, plus he would've had you and everyone you care about killed. He'd have to spend a lot of troops' lives to pull down the Turks, but he wouldn't hesitate. You know how thorough he was in dealing with his enemies, he would've even had everyone you've dated for the last six months killed."

"That's exactly what I told myself on the way to the plate support. Afterwards, I wasn't so sure. But I'm damned sure I'm gonna protect Lena and Rude from having to deal with anything like that. Anyways, you've got enough problems of your own, you don't need to waste time worrying about mine. I'll deal with it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Long as I have Lena and Rude with me, I can deal with damn-near anything."

"That's good to hear. Well, I'll definitely have some work for you as soon as Meteor's dealt with."

"We won't be taking jobs right away. See, we never had time to, you know... pay our respects to Tseng. So once this mission's taken care of, we're gonna go somewhere private and well... let loose. After that, I'm not sure how long it's gonna take for us to get our heads back on straight."

"I understand. Take as long as you need, I'll find something for you to do when you're ready to start working again."

"Thanks. Hey, I didn't just call to chat. So before I get sidetracked again, you got a fax machine where you're at?"

"Yeah. Hold on a second. I'm at 545-8642."

"Moved your office to Kalm, huh? I'm sending you my mission plans and an estimated map of the crater Intelligence came up with. I don't want to add to your work or anything, but you think you can pass that map onto Avalanche, get them to memorize it?"

"I would If I could, but they've all split up for a while. They're taking a few days off to examine their motives. The ones who still want to fight are supposed meet up the day before they're supposed to meet you in Junon."

"Examine their motives? If they're not sure of their motives, then what the hell've they been fighting for all this time? Damn crazy terrorists... You know where any of them're at?"

"No, they don't trust me. Ever since the keystone incident, they've kept information from me whenever they could."

"Even after you saved their asses in Junon? Damn..."

* * *

After fishing the key out of her pocket, Elena unlocks the door to her apartment. "Well, here it is," she announces, leading Rude inside. "It's not much compared to where you guys live..."

"It's not bad for your old salary," Rude calmly states. "Besides, after we go freelance we'll probably all have apartments smaller than this."

"You won't keep your safehouses?" she asks while walking into her bedroom with a cart full of empty luggage.

"Without the company to pay the rent we won't be able to keep them long..."

"I hadn't thought of that. Hey, I'm gonna pack the stuff in these drawers, could you pack the stuff hanging in the closet?"

"Sure," he answers as they get to work.

"Thanks, Rude. So, where do you think we'll be living after this's over?" Rude shrugs. "Can't you guess?" He shrugs again. "Well, what sort of work do you think we'll be doing when we go freelance?" Yet another shrug. "Hey, don't try to pull the mute act on me. I know you can be talkative."

"Why? You talk enough for both of us," he says with a smirk, a rare expression for Rude.

"You ass," Elena laughs while throwing a balled-up pair of jeans at his head. He ducks with a smile and throws them back. "Looks like I'm not the only one Reno's being a bad influence on."

Rude chuckles at this while placing a handful of dresses into a garment bag. "Yeah, he has that effect on people. That's everything in the closet."

"Alright, I'm almost done here. I've got a shoebox under the bed, could you grab it and toss it in the cart?"

Kneeling down next to the bed Rude is surprised to discover that the 'shoebox' is a large, clear plastic container, full of shoes, that takes up much of the space under the bed. He raises an eyebrow as he pulls the box out from under the bed. "Have enough?" he asks.

"Not yet," she answers with a smile as she finishes packing the contents of her dresser. "Only thing left's to pack my CDs and stuff from my bathroom and I'll be ready to go."

"I'll give Reno a call, let him know we'll be back in a few minutes."

* * *

The first thing Elena and Rude see upon entering Reno's apartment is a sleek sportsbike sitting on it's kickstand. It's painted a blinding, glossy candy apple red, except for the wheels, handlebars, and cover for the two-cylinder boxer engine, which are painted flat black, and the exhaust pipes, which are chromed. A black full-face helmet with red flames painted on it hangs from the handlebars.

Sitting to the side of the eye catching bike are several boxes of ammunition, boxes of spare parts, a small stack of cases of liquor, boxes filled with assorted other gear, a few weapons including the four rifles from the war and the anti-tank missile, Reno's photo album, a large CD wallet, and a large trash bag. A medium length black leather jacket and an old tan trenchcoat with several bulletholes in it were tossed on top of the pile. "I'm packed," Reno announces when they walk through the door. "Let's grab a quick lunch and get going."

"You didn't..." Opening the trash bag and sorting through the mass of wadded-up clothes inside confirms Rude's suspicions. "You can't just pack uniforms, t-shirts, and jeans. What if we need to dress formal for a mission? Hey, you shouldn't pack shampoo with your clothes, it'll leak on everything. And why'd you stuff it all in a trash bag? We brought luggage..." He pulls a pair of suitcases from a cart and opens one. "May as well pack properly..."

"I'll make sure he brings something nice," Elena volunteers, grabbing the cart with one hand and Reno's left arm with the other.

"Hey, Lena, what're you doing? Well, can I at least leave my ties behind?" he protests, not resisting as Elena drags him into his bedroom.

"Sorry, Reno, it's for your own good," she says with a smirk. Neither notices Rude behind them, smiling at the sight as he begins transferring the contents of the trash bag into suitcases. "Alright, stand there," Elena says, placing Reno next to his closet. She begins to sort through his business suits, pulling them out one at a time and holding them up against Reno before either putting them back in the closet or packing them in a garment bag. "No good, it clashes with your hair," she says before replacing one. "Ohhh, I like the way this one sets off your eyes," she announces before packing another. Reno stands there with a look on his face halfway between amusement and confusion as Elena continues to sort through his suits with similar comments. From her expression, Elena's obviously enjoying herself. "Hey, take your jacket off, I wanna see how this one looks on you," she says while holding up another suit.

"What? Why?"

"Come on, take it off." Reno laughs at this comment. "That's not what I meant, you perv. Your jacket."

"Eh, why not?" Reno shrugs, then obliges Elena's request.

"You're definitely taking that one, you look cute in it."

"Cute?" Reno asks while slipping out of the jacket and handing it back. "Lena, Turks look dangerous and professional. They don't look 'cute'."

"Sure you do," she asserts while holding another suit against him. "That one's no good. Try this one on." she says, holding another up. Reno complies with a bemused expression still on his face. This process goes on for several more minutes before Elena finds what she's looking for, Reno's tuxedo, which had a white jacket and shirt and a black tie and pants. "Oooh, try this on. I wanna see what you look like in it." Shrugging, Reno slips the jacket on. "No, I mean the whole thing."

"Hey, come on, this's taking too long. We need to get moving."

"It's the last one I'll make you try on, I promise."

Reno hesitates for a moment while Elena looks at him with a hopeful expression on her face. "All right. You gonna give me some privacy, or are you expecting a striptease?" Elena answers by turning back to the closet and beginning to pack button-down shirts into a suitcase while Reno changes. "Damn bowties, how'd this go again?" She finishes packing the button-down shirts that would match the suits she'd packed and was well into the slacks by the time Reno remembers how to tie a bowtie. "You can turn around now."

"Wow, that looks great on you. Hey, hold on. You can't wear that with your normal shoes. Don't you have some that go with it?"

"They'd be under the bed if I still have them." he answers with a shrug. Sitting down next to the bed, Elena reaches under it and the first thing she finds is a heavily customized automatic shotgun with a bayonet. "So that's where I left my trench broom. Thanks, Lena, I was gonna pack that but couldn't find it." Continuing her search, Elena finds half a box of condoms which Reno surreptitiously stuffs into the suitcase, a box of shotgun shells, an old pair of combat boots that Reno also packs, lots of cobwebs, and a pair of reinforced black leather boots with red stripes running up the sides. "Can't believe I forgot to pack my riding leathers." Reno comments when he sees the boots.

"Riding leathers?" Elena asks. In response, Reno searches through his closet and pulls out a heavy waist-length black leather jacket with stylized red flames decorating the arms and tosses it to her. "This thing's pretty heavy. And stiff." she comments.

"That's from all the kevlar, titanium, and stuff reinforcing it." he responds. "Keeps me from having my skin peeled off and my bones snapped if I wreck at full speed. I've hit two-fifty on that bike in there. Also, good riding leathers'll stop a knife or most handguns. Plus, most importantly, they look good on me." he says, breaking into a goofy grin while saying the last part. Turning back to the closet, he pulls out matching reinforced leather pants and gloves.

Resuming her search, Elena lays down on her stomach and partially crawls under the bed to reach farther. Reno enjoys the view while packing his leathers into a suitcase. After a few moments of wriggling around under the bed, Elena crawls out with a look of triumph on her face, a small flashlight in her mouth, and a dusty pair of dress shoes in hand. Reno laughs at the sight.

"What's so funny?" she demands while pocketing the flashlight.

"This." Reno responds with a smirk as he takes a step forward and quickly runs a hand through Elena's hair. Pulling his hand back, he shows her a handful of cobwebs.

Elena suddenly looks less triumphant. "Ewww... So, there enough time for me to grab another shower before we take off?"

"Don't worry, I got most of it out. You oughta be able to just comb the rest out." he reassures her.

"That's a relief. Hey, don't wipe that on your pants!" After narrowly preventing Reno from ruining his tuxedo pants, Elena hands him one of the shirts she'd decided to leave behind. "Wipe it on that." While he does that, she uses another one to quickly wipe the dust from the dress shoes, which she than tosses to Reno. "Looking good," she says after he puts the shoes on. Elena then does a wolf whistle, causing Reno to laugh. "You just made me some cash, too," she says with a mischievous smile. "Hey Rude, get in here!" she says in a louder tone of voice. "Pay up," she commands when he walks in the door. Reno begins to laugh even harder when he sees this. Rude hands the money over and leaves the room.

"You know, you didn't have to go through all that work, Lena," Reno says once he stops laughing. "All you had to do was offer to split the winnings."

"But that wouldn't be as much fun," she says with a grin. "Besides, I get more cash this way. That was my plan b though."

"Pretty smooth," he says while giving her a mock bow. "So, how much'd I make for you?"

"Five hundred gil."

"Not a bad score for a few minutes' work," Reno remarks while removing his bowtie. "Hey, that reminds me. You mind settling a bet between me and Rude?"

"That depends on the bet."

"We made it back when you first got promoted. Rude thinks blonde hair and brown eyes're a rare enough combo that it's probably not natural. I think dying your eyebrows and roots'd be a pain in the ass and it's probably natural. So who won?"

"Normally I'd just leave you in suspense. But you did just make me a nice pile of cash. It's natural."

"Hell, yeah! Hey Rude, get back in here!" When Rude enters the room, Reno holds out a hand, palm up. "I told you, she's a natural blond."

"...getting cleaned out today," Rude complains while handing over the gil. "I'm almost done with your mess out there, I'm going to start loading the VSTOL," he says before exiting the room.

"How much'd you win?" Elena asks.

"Two hundred," he answers while slipping off his jacket. "Now, as much fun as it's been dressing up for your amusement, we need to get moving."

"Alright. Thanks again, you really did look great in that tux," she says while turning around and getting back to packing the clothes in the closet.

"What, you mean I don't look great without it? That really hurts, Lena," Reno says, the tone of his voice clearly announcing that he's joking.

"Heh, you know what I meant, smartass. Well, that's everything in the closet that's worth taking."

"That's quick. It's safe to turn around now." When she turns, Elena sees that Reno's fully dressed again and packing the tux in the garment bag. After loading the filled luggage into their cart, they push it into Reno's living room, finding that Rude and most of the pile next to the door are missing. "There's only one elevator, so I guess we'll have to wait."

Elena pulls a comb from a pocket and runs it through her hair. "Did I get all the cobwebs out?"

"Almost. Hold still," he says before snatching the comb. With a few deft movements, he gently runs the comb through her hair in the spots she'd missed. "That's the last of it," Reno says while handing the comb back. "You've got a bunch on your back too."

"Thanks, Reno." Elena then slips off her jacket and uses a handtowel from the sink built into the minibar to wipe off the back of her jacket.

Reno glances at his watch. "It's late, but we might as well grab a light lunch before we take off." He then leads her into his kitchen. "All I've got that's edible's quick pockets." Digging through his freezer, he pulls out three boxes. "Alright, you've got three choices: philly steak, deluxe pizza, or ham and cheese."

"Philly steak sounds good," Elena declares, pulling one out of that box and starting it in the microwave.

"You got good taste," Reno remarks, slipping the other philly steak pocket out of the box. "Guess Rude only gets two choices."

"Too bad there aren't any restaurants or anything open," Elena says as she removes her lunch from the microwave. "These're the best type, but they don't compare that well to the real thing." Rude returns to the apartment, pushing an empty cart, while Reno's lunch is inserted into the microwave. Following the sound of the humming microwave, Rude walks into the kitchen where he silently helps himself to a ham and cheese and places it in the microwave as soon as Reno's finished. The trio of Turks quickly devour their lunches and return to the living room where the remainder of what Reno's taking is loaded into the empty cart.

Reno then hands both of his companions a large envelope. "Mission plans, equipment specs, and maps. We've still got about two and a half days before the mission, make sure you read it before then." He then leads the way out of the apartment. The elevator ride to the roof was somewhat uncomfortable due to two loaded shopping carts, a motorcycle, and three people being crowded into a small elevator. "Damn, Rude. You planning on taking on a tank battalion or something?" Reno asks when he sees all the equipment Rude mounted on the VSTOL. Rude chuckles at the exaggeration as the three make their way up the rear ramp.

The luggage and equipment from Reno's apartment is quickly secured in the cargo bay and the ramp closed. "Nice, full ECM and surveillance suites." Reno observes, looking at the two large consoles each mounted on one of the walls directly behind the cockpit. Both these consoles extend four feet back from the cockpit and each has two rotating chairs mounted in the deck in front of it.

Walking past them, Reno climbs into the pilot's seat and starts the engines. Rude takes the co-pilot seat, leaving Elena with a swivel seat. Pushing the throttles forward, Reno allows the VSTOL to gain altitude before easing forward the lever that controls wing angle. Turning towards Junon, he eases the yoke back and begins the climb to cruising altitude.

"To be honest, I didn't expect to come up with a plan so quickly. We're gonna have some time to burn when we get to Junon." Having reached cruising altitude, he levels the plane out and engages the autopilot. "Good thing the whole damn city's in denial. They think the shelters'll protect them from anything, so about everything's open. Business as usual, I guess."

"Good, I'm gonna go find a shoe store when we get there," Elena announces.

Looking over his shoulder, Reno sees Elena rubbing one of her calves with a stressed expression on her face. "You alright, Lena?" he asks, concern evident in his voice.

"Just a little sore from all that running around and climbing in heels," she answers. "I need to buy some flats, I'm sore enough I don't really care anymore if they'll make me look short."

Reno stands up and walks over to Elena, sitting down in the seat next to her. "Just relax and let doctor Reno and his magic fingers take care of you," he says with a gentle smile. Leaning over, he takes hold of her right foot, then leans back and sets it on his left knee. "Trust me, I'm really good at this. By time we're ready to land, I'll have you feeling ready to run a marathon," he says while quickly untying her shoe. After removing it and her sock, he raises an eyebrow. "Running you raw's supposed to just be a figure of speech, you know."

"Is it really that bad?" Elena asks, looking worried.

"Well, you don't have any blisters yet, but it looks pretty damned sore," Reno says as he begins to firmly but gently massage the sole of her foot with his thumbs. "Remember what I told you about not sacrificing yourself for your job? Next time, let us know so it gets dealt with early. Kinda makes it hard to get your job done if you get too sore to walk. Hey, Rude. There should be a pack of moleskin in the medkit I packed. Mind running back and grabbing it for me?" Rude nods and heads back into the cargo area.

"If I knew you were this good at it, I'd have definitely told you earliere" Elena says while placing her other foot on Reno's other knee. Watching Reno work as he removes her other shoe and sock, Elena can hardly believe his scarred hands can be so gentle. "I'm surprised, I didn't think you were the gentle type."

"I used to be a thief, Lena, and I was trained as a sniper. You need a delicate touch for that sort of work," Reno says, knowing that it wouldn't be smart to mention how he'd perfected his massage techniques practicing on Angela in their downtime during the war or how he'd further honed those skills during 'soft interrogations', missions where he'd been sent to seduce women who had information Shin-Ra wanted.

"Makes sense..." she murmurs. Looking up, Reno grins when he sees the blissfully relaxed expression on Elena's face that confirms that his skills are working as intended. He pushes up the legs of her slacks and begins to work on easing the soreness out of her calf muscles as Rude returns and hands the pack of moleskin and a small pair of scissors to Reno. Carefully cutting small patches off the piece of moleskin, he gently applies it to the sore spots on Elena's feet before returning to massaging her calves.

"We're almost there." Rude announces twenty minutes later as he turns off the autopilot and begins the descent.

"Hear that, Lena?" When he doesn't get a response, Reno looks up and sees Elena's head leaning to the side, eyes closed. "Hey, Rude, two hundred gil says you can't set this down on the safehouse roof without waking her up." _Why the hell'd I say that? He's gonna get his gil back for sure now..._ runs through his head moments later.

"Deal," Rude agrees. Reno reaches forward and fastens the lap belt on Elena's seat then leans back and fastens his before proceeding to finish the massage. Not surprisingly, Rude touches down perfectly on the rooftop.

Reno leans forward and gently shakes Elena's shoulder. "Hey Lena, wake up."

"How long was I out?" she asks after her eyes open.

"We're in Junon, on the safehouse. I told you I was good at massages," he says with a grin. Rude cuts the engines and turns off the plane. "I'm even better when I've got massage oil to work with. So, feel better?"

"Yeah. Best flight I've ever been on. Thanks."

"No problem. Anytime you need the magic fingers, just ask. I'm kick ass at backs too."

"I might take you up on that later," she says while stretching her shoulders.

"So, since Junon's in denial, what do you two say to taking advantage of my business expenses card while we can and having a real dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," Elena says.

"Same here," Rude adds.

"Let's go incognito. Nothing too fancy," Reno adds. Grabbing some luggage, the trio exit the plane through the side door and take the elevator down from the roof. Entering an apartment down the hall, they find a safehouse that's much smaller than the ones Reno and Rude lived in. "There's the bathroom, bedroom, and storage room," Reno points out as they enter a small living room that's set up as a conference room. Elena walks into the bathroom, leaving the guys to change in the small bedroom.

After a few short minutes they walk out and sit down at the conference table to wait for Elena. Reno wears a black t-shirt, faded blue jeans, and his battered old tan trenchcoat. Rude wears black slacks, a slate gray polo shirt, and his black leather blazer. Both wear the same shoes they normally wore with their uniforms and a variety of weapons. While waiting, Reno pays the money he lost to Rude. A few minutes later Elena exits the bathroom wearing a black sleeveless dress that came down to a few inches above her knees, a short waist-length black jacket, and a pair of light blue flip-flop sandals.

"You packed all those shoes and you didn't have anything that matched?" Reno teases.

"It's the only thing I had without heels. Hey, what's that say on your shirt?" Leaning close, she reads the line of small-print text that's written across Reno's waistline. "If you're already this close, why don't you just suck..." she stops reading it out loud at that point and straightens back up, an amused expression on her face. "Heh, real cute, Reno. You're actually gonna wear that in public?"

Reno grins. "Hey, you know me. Ready?" They both nod and Reno leads the way back to the elevator and takes it down to the ground floor. "If we walk, we can cut through the alley behind this place and be there in about a block. Driving'd take a hell of a lot longer."

That said, they exit the building and walk into the alley behind it, silent except for the slapping sound of Elena's sandals that accompany her every step. About halfway through the alley, six ragged figures appear from the darkness. "Lost? Give us the woman and your money and we'll let you live."

Reno smirks. "I could use a little exercise before dinner. Try not to bleed on us too much, we're going to a nice restaurant."

The thug's leader, standing right in front of Reno, pulls a small, cheap-looking pistol and points it at his face. "You son of-"

Reno cuts him off by simultaneously dropping into a low stance, resulting in the pistol being pointed above his head, and shooting both hands up to intercept and twist the thug's wrists, sending the cheap pistol flying. Reno then smashes a forward elbow strike to the thug's shoulder, turning him, then spins behind him and plants a spine-shattering side kick right above his kidneys.

Rude immediately steps toward the nearest thug and uses a hammerfist to knock his lead pipe out of the way. Stepping into the gap he'd created, Rude brings his fist back up in a tremendous uppercut while stepping on one of the thug's feet, preventing him from rolling with the punch. The force is enough to snap his neck, resulting in him collapsing in a heap.

Half a heartbeat later, while the first two thugs are still falling, Elena approaches the nearest thug. Easily ducking under the clumsy swing of his pipe, she lands a quick punch to his solar plexus. Stepping behind her stunned enemy, she reaches out and grabs his chin with one hand and the back of his head with another. With a quick twist, another target is eliminated.

Meanwhile, Reno easily parries a knife thrust with one hand then puts the magic fingers to another use, crushing a thug's trachea with a spearhand strike. This is followed by a swift crescent kick to the jaw that finishes him.

At he same time, Rude slips under his adversary's attack and counters with a powerful right cross that actually causes his target to bounce off the wall behind him, accompanied by the sound of cracking bone from his skull.

The last thug makes a feeble attempt to stab Elena, who easily side-steps. Hooking a hand over his, she spins behind him so they're back-to-back and delivers an elbow to his skull. She then wraps that arm around his neck and shoots her hand upwards, snapping his neck.

"Well that's disappointing, my pulse's barely up," Reno jokes. "I was expecting some better exercise from those odds." Leaving the small gang where they lay, the trio continues on their way along the alley, exiting near a expensive looking restaurant. Reno leads the way inside and is quickly intercepted by the maitre de.

"You can't come in here dressed like that. This is a black tie estab..." Reno cuts him off by holding up a plastic card that's instantly recognized as an executive-level Shin-Ra business expenses card. "I'm terribly sorry sir, if you'll just wait one minute..." The maitre de's eyes widen when he spots the words 'Administrative Research' on the card. "I mean please follow me. Madam, sirs, I'll seat you immediately."

"I love doing that," Reno whispers to Elena as they follow the maitre de to a table. "Walking into a five-star joint in jeans and making these snobby bastards jump when they find out who I am. It's one of my favorite perks of the job." The three are quickly seated and given menus and the wine list. The dim lighting causes the Mako glow from the Turks' eyes to be more obvious, adding to the maitre de's nervousness. Even Rude's are noticeable, a faint blue glow escaping around the rims of his custom sunglasses. "Bring us a bottle of Del Sol Sauvignon Blanc," Reno orders, ignoring the wine list. "Make sure it's at least twenty years old. And bring us a plate of crab cakes and some shrimp scampi for appetizers." The maitre de quickly rushes off and passes the orders on to the nearest waiter before resuming his post at the front door.

"What's good here?" Elena asks, opening her menu.

"Everything," Reno answers. "Especially the fish. Ever had fresh Junon lobster?"

"No, I've never had any lobster. I can't believe how expensive this place is," she says, eyes widening at the prices.

"I figure as long as the company's paying, we might as well eat at the most expensive place in town. Try the lobster platter."

"That looks like it has an awful lot of calories," Elena states after reading the list of what's included in the lobster platter.

"Yeah, but've you got any idea how many calories you burn saving the world?" Reno jokes. "Seriously, you should splurge a little. You'll burn it off easy. Besides, it tastes really damned good."

A waiter then arrives with the wine and after pouring it asks if they're ready to order. At their nods, he turns to Elena. "I'll take the lobster platter," she orders, deciding to trust Reno's advice.

"I'll take one too," Reno orders.

"Same here," Rude adds. "...gonna go hit the restroom, I'll be right back," he announces after the waiter leaves. He then stands and silently walks off.

"I like this wine," Elena announces after taking a sip. "Nice choice."

"Thanks. It's one of my favorites. Might as well enjoy it while we can still afford it."

* * *

Leaning against a bathroom stall, Rude lights a cigarette. Glancing at his watch, he debates how long to give his friends alone before returning to the table. He smiles at the thought that two and a half days of downtime should give him plenty of opportunities to push the two together. _Shame they're not more perceptive, it'd save me a lot of work_...

* * *

"These awkward silences suck, don't they?" Reno observes after a few minutes of both sitting silently, fidgeting with their wine glasses.

"Yeah..." Elena agrees.

_What the hell was that? You're supposed to be the Casanova of Shin-Ra and that's the best you could come up with? Damnit, man, your not supposed to get nervous sitting at a candle-lit table with a beautiful woman, she's supposed to be the nervous one. And you call yourself a ladies' man. You're slipping,_ Reno silently berates himself _._

"You alright, Reno?"

Reno blinks and notices he's looking at Elena, who's lightly blushing. _And now you're staring like some dumb kid who doesn't know his way around ladies._.. "Guess I kinda spaced out for a while there. Sorry, Lena. Lot on my mind lately..."

"A gil for your thoughts," she says with a smile.

"Heh, they don't come that cheap," he responds with a lopsided grin. _Holy shit, Rude was right._ Reno realizes while looking into Elena's eyes. He takes a sip of his wine. _That's why I'm getting all nervous_. "Just thinking about the past, an old promise I never could fulfill." _Now that I think about it, I've been falling for her for a while now. But I buried it down deep where I wouldn't think about it, cause she's only interested in Tseng_.

"You've got me curious now. What promise?"

"It's kinda personal." _She's still pining over Tseng, isn't she? Calm down and think, man. You know how to figure out if she'd be receptive and be subtle about it. You gotta focus_.

"Now I'm even more curious. What's more personal than those stories you told me over the last couple days?"

_Damn, I can't focus. Calm down and relax, Reno._ "Maybe I'll tell you someday." Unbidden, Rude's words from the previous day leap to mind, 'You could help her get over it.' _How can I help her do anything when I'm nervous like this? At least I've got a good poker face_...


	8. Diversions and Butterflies

Reno lights a cigarette, hoping that the nicotine will calm his nerves. Out of habit he offers the pack to Elena and is surprised when she accepts, something she seldom does. _Guess I'm not the only nervous one here..._ Reno thinks as he leans forward and lights Elena's cigarette for her. "Ever eat at a place like this?" he asks as he snaps his lighter shut, hoping to change the subject and buy more time to think.

"No, I've never been anywhere fancier than a chain restaurant."

 _Could be why she's nervous. So much for the idea I was maybe causing it. She's probably fully in 'just friends' mode_... "What, are the guys in IW all cheap or something?" he jokes.

She laughs a little at this. "A few were. I didn't date much when I worked there. It was too awkward, like we were from different worlds or something."

"They were all born and raised on the plate, right?"

"Yeah, and trained at universities. Kinda hard for a self-taught slum rat to fit in there..."

"Hate to say it, but I'm not surprised to hear that. It's the same for pretty much the whole damned company. That's the other reason I haven't had a serious relationship since the war. Most of those plate women are spineless sheep, not good for anything more than a one night stand. When I'd try just talking to one it was like they spoke a different language."

"Pretty frustrating," Elena observes while staring into her wine.

"Yeah," Reno agrees, also staring into his wine. _Did she just give me an opening, or is she just sympathizing with a friend because we both have shitty love lives? Damn, I can't tell. This is so much easier when I'm just trying to get laid by some chick I don't care about_...

* * *

Rude returns to the table during the latest awkward silence. "It's shocking enough to see one of you being quiet. Never thought I'd see you both shut up at the same time..." he wryly observes as he takes his seat.

"Just more of that strange shit you see when the world's about to end," Reno says with a faint smile as the appetizers arrive.

"Next thing you know, the sun'll rise in the west, the sea'll boil, and Rude'll turn into a chatterbox," Elena says, continuing the gallows humor. "Hey, these are pretty good," she states after biting into a crab cake. "What's in them?"

"Crab," Rude answers.

"Well yeah, obviously. I meant besides crab."

Reno shrugs. "More crab? Hell, none of us are exactly good cooks here, Lena. So why would we know?"

Elena shrugs. "Just making conversation. Kinda boring just sitting here with nothing to talk about."

"Yeah, but maybe we oughta stick to talking about stuff we know about."

"Alright, so what's the plan for tomorrow?" she asks as the next course arrives.

"Well, someone's gonna have to pay a visit to the Junon offices, make sure they're following my orders. Also, the other day I called Junon Stoneworks and made an order for a small memorial piece for Tseng, they should have it ready for pickup tomorrow."

"So what're we gonna do with that?" Elena asks while cracking a crab leg between her fingers.

"Right after this's all over I figure we can go down to where the temple used to be, have a little private ceremony. You know, say bye to him properly."

"After holding it in this long, it'll be nice to finally have time to let loose," Elena says with a somber expression on her face.

"Yeah, Lena, less pressure's always nice. Speaking of less pressure, we also need to find you some comfy shoes. Can't have you limping around in heels all the time," he says with a goofy grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Limping?" She tries to look outraged, but the gleam in her eyes betrays her real mood as she mimes throwing a crab leg at Reno. "Hey, why are these things so expensive? Sure, they taste nice, but there's hardly any meat and it's a pain in the ass to get to."

"Because upper crust types are gullible. Take a big bug that lives underwater and tell them it's a delicacy and they'll pay stupid amounts of money for it. You know there's snails on the menu here?"

"Snails?" Elena makes a disgusted face. "I ate one of those once, but only because I was starving. They'd have to pay me to get me to eat one now," she declares as the next course, grilled marlin, arrives.

"Same here. But those idiots," he points a thumb over his shoulder at the other diners, "happily pay eighty gil for a small plate of the things. It's bizarre."

"Weird. When you put it that way I'm half-surprised I didn't see rat on the menu."

"How can you be half surprised?" Reno teases. "I always thought you either were or weren't."

"It's just one of those stupid figures of speech, smartass. All right, I'm mildly surprised. Happy now?"

"Overflowing with goddamned joy," he replies with a smirk. "Anyways, getting back to the plan for tomorrow, we probably oughta also top off the VSTOL's tanks. May as well take advantage of free fuel while we can."

"Does it have a name?"

"Nope. Shin-Ra doesn't name planes unless they make it into mass production. All it's got's an acronym and a ridiculously long project number."

"Maybe we should give it one. Something that'll sound better than just calling it VSTOL all the time."

"All right. How about Turkmobile?" he suggests with a lopsided grin.

"What? You can't be serious."

"What's wrong with Turkmobile?" he asks, trying to look offended.

"...sounds stupid," Rude contributes.

"No one'll take us seriously flying around in something called that," Elena adds as the main course arrives.

"Meh, you two aren't any fun," Reno laughs. "You're the one that wants to give it a name, Lena, so you think of one," he offers as the main course arrives.

They eat in silence for a few minutes while she thinks. "How about the Falcon?" she suggests.

"Yeah, flying predators are kinda cool. What do you think, Rude?"

"Sounds a lot better than Turkmobile."

"Alright, I guess it's the Falcon now. Although I still like Turkmobile," Reno jokes.

* * *

"Excuse me," their waiter says when he sees they're finished eating. "Madam, sirs, would any of you care for desert?" They all shake their heads. "Very well then, I shall return in a moment with your bill."

"Don't bother," Reno orders, handing over his business expenses card. "It's the company's accountants' problem, no point showing it to me."

"Very good, sir," he states as he accepts the card and walks away.

"I'll be right back," Reno announces as he gets up and walks towards the restroom.

"Hey Rude, mind if I ask you something about Reno"? Elena asks after she's sure Reno's out of earshot.

Rude shrugs. "I can't really answer that if I don't know what you're going to ask."

"Fair enough. Earlier he said something that made me curious. He spaced out while you were in the restroom and said later he was thinking about a promise he made that he hadn't gotten around to fulfilling. Any idea what he's talking about?"

"Yeah. When he says he'll do something and he's being serious, he does it. I only know one exception," Rude answers while the waiter returns with Reno's card and places it on the table. "Back during the war none of us had any illusions about our chances of living very long. Reno and Angela both promised each other that whoever lived longer would move on, find someone else to be happy with, and enjoy however much time they had left."

"So he still hasn't let go?"

"Not exactly. He's let go of her, but he's had trouble finding someone else. He's come close a few times, but has a bad habit of choking and backing out. It makes it easy to tell when he's starting to feel seriously about someone, because he starts to get nervous and hesitate. See, losing her hurt him real damn bad."

"Yeah, he told me about that, and how he reacted when he found her."

"Really? I'm surprised, he usually doesn't open up like that to people." _I think that's all the hints I can give without coming straight out and telling her. If Reno doesn't do something soon I may just do that._..

"Can't really blame him. It's easy to just try and forget painful memories like that. Too bad we can't..." Elena spots Reno walking back to the table. "Thanks for telling me Rude." They stand and walk to meet him. Rude tosses him his card when they're a few feet away.

"I called a cab. Don't really feel like walking that far when I'm so damned full of fish."

"Good idea," Rude agrees. The three exit the restaurant and find one of the Junon air taxies waiting for them. Moments later they exit in front of their apartment building and make their way to the elevator.

"How'd you like dinner, Lena?" Reno asks.

"Everything was great, but it wasn't good enough that I'd actually pay as much as they charged for it. I still can't believe I ate that much."

"Heh, sounds like I'm not the only one feeling overstuffed," Reno laughs as the trio exits the elevator and heads into the safehouse. "Think I'll go ahead and hit the sack, get to work on digesting this stuff."

"Sounds like a plan," Elena agrees.

"The beds here aren't as nice as the one at my place, but there's enough beds for everyone," Reno says. Once again, Elena changes in the bathroom and the guys use the bedroom.

* * *

"It safe to come in?" Elena asks a minute later, knocking on the bedroom door.

"Yeah," Reno answers. Elena walks into the small bedroom wearing a loose-fitting white t-shirt and plaid boxer shorts. Looking around she sees that Reno's once again wearing an old faded gray pair of sweat pants that were cut down into shorts while Rude wears a pair of new-looking black sweat pants. Two normal twin sized beds sit against one wall and a long twin sized bed sits against the opposite wall. A large dresser and a closet fill much of the space between the beds.

"Sheets are in the closet," Reno announces as he puts a set of sheets on one of the small beds. Rude, whose feet would have hung over the end of a normal twin sized bed, has already claimed the long bed. Within moments, all three beds are readied and the Turks allow the pleasant lethargy that often follows a large meal to pull them down into sleep.

* * *

Much later, Elena is awakened by the sound of a voice. "No, no more..." Glancing to the side she sees Reno thrashing around on his bed, soaked in sweat. "...stop, please..."

She quickly rushes over to his bed and shakes him awake. "Hey, wake up." He sits up with a loud gasp as his eyes snap wide open. Elena sees something she's never seen in his eyes before, stark terror. "It's alright, it's just a nightmare," she whispers in his ear as she wraps her arms around his trembling body in an attempt to calm him.

"Lena? God, it was horrible, I was a kid again..." he whispers between ragged breaths. Most people would be confused by his statement, but Elena knows first-hand what childhood as a slum orphan is like.

"It's just a dream," she whispers, stroking the back of his head with one hand. "You're not alone anymore. You'll never have to worry about running and hiding again."

"I can still see their faces, the sick bastards..." Elena feels a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach as she hears this, certain that she knows what the nightmare had been about. "Barely six and they used me for a gang initiation, damned rapists..." he whispers in a trembling voice, confirming her suspicions. He then stiffens up and unsteadily stands. Although she's never seen Reno like this, Elena has a fair idea what he needs, so she pulls one of his arms over her shoulders and helps him stagger into the bathroom. In the corner of her eye she sees Rude sitting up in bed with a concerned expression on his face. Apparently deciding that Elena's doing well enough and there's nothing he can do to help, he stays where he sits.

After staggering into the bathroom, Reno falls to his knees in front of the toilet. Her Mako-enhanced speed allows Elena to pull his unbound hair out of the way before he begins to vomit. After expelling the remains of his dinner into the toilet, he leans back, still shaking like a leaf. "Sorry you had to see me being weak like this, Lena," he gasps out before leaning over the toilet again. Having already emptied his stomach, he now experiences gut wrenching dry heaves.

"You're not weak. You wouldn't have been able to escape that hell if you were weak," Elena tells him after he leans back from the toilet and she wraps her arms around him again. "I still have nightmares sometimes about... when that happened to me. I know what it's like to wake up terrified by old memories and I usually have to throw up after having one of those nightmares." Reno leans forward again and has more dry heaves, the nausea center in his brain still in overdrive despite having already emptied his stomach. "It's just part of growing up alone in the slums. 'The strong take what they want and the weak suffer,'" she whispers, quoting the rule of the slums. "But we're not weak anymore. Or alone."

"Thanks, Lena," Reno rasps out through a sore throat, his voice muffled due to his face being buried in Elena's shoulder. After a few minutes more of huddling together on the cold bathroom floor, Elena feels his racing pulse slow, his breathing begin to steady, and his trembling cease. "I... I think that's the last of it" he announces. With Elena's help he stands, then he makes his way to the sink where he immediately grabs the bottle of mouthwash and begins to gargle in an attempt to remove the taste of vomit from his mouth. Elena reaches over and flushes the partially digested seafood while Reno gargles and spits several mouthfuls of mouthwash. Reno then walks into the main room and plops down on the old couch that sits on one side of the conference table.

Elena follows him in and hands him a towel that he uses to wipe his face. He then begins to wipe the sweat from his chest and arms. "Now you see why I like to drink myself to sleep. Drinking till I pass out damn near always keeps the dreams away. Or maybe it keeps me from remembering them. Either way's fine with me."

"Feeling any better?" Elena asks. She sees the answer in his eyes as he looks up at her.

"No. Still too fresh in my mind."

Elena sits down next to him and throws an arm around his shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze. "Well, I guess we'll have to find something to get your mind off it." She looks up at a nearby clock. "I doubt you'll be able to get back to sleep after that and I know I can't after thinking about dreams like that. So, what's there to do in Junon at four in the morning?"

"Not much," he answers. "Only things open now're a handful of convenience stores and all-night diners."

"You need to get something in you to settle your stomach, so let's go to one of the diners." When Reno makes no move to get up, Elena grabs his arms and hauls him to his feet. "Come on, I took your advice yesterday, now it's time for you to listen to doctor Elena." A weak smile briefly flits across Reno's face at this comment. "Now go get dressed, it'll be good for you."

"Hey Rude, you awake?" Reno whispers after closing the door behind him.

"I am now," comes his quiet reply. "How you feeling?"

"Like shit. Damn past won't leave me alone. Hey, Lena's dragging me off to a diner to get something to settle my gut. You wanna come along?"

"I'll pass. You two should do fine without a chaperone," Rude jokes, successfully drawing a ghost of a smile from his friend. "You better hurry up and dress before she gets impatient and comes after you." _He always recovered quickest when he was around Angela, I bet Elena can do just as well._

* * *

Reno exits the bedroom clad in jeans, a white button-down shirt that he doesn't bother to button, his worn shoes, and his gunbelt and shoulder harness. He carries his tattered trenchcoat in one hand as he quietly closes the door behind him.

"Rude managed to fall back asleep, so at least one of us'll get a full night's sleep," he whispers. Elena, dressed in snug jeans, a simple light blue tank top, her gunbelt, and the jacket and sandals she'd worn to dinner, nods and leads the way out of the apartment. Reno grabs a bottle of pepto on the way out and takes a swig before pocketing the bottle. "Elena? Thanks again," he says as they enter the elevator.

"I'm sure you'd have done the same for me," she replies. "Hey, I've been there, so if you ever need to talk about it, or need to use my shoulder again I'll be here."

"Thanks Lena. Your shoulder's a lot nicer than Rude's," Reno says the last part with a trace of his normal humor in his voice and a faint smirk on his face. Elena takes this as a good sign that he's recovering.

"What, did I steal his job or something?"

"It's not something we'd normally talk about, but he's got his share of bad memories too. Over the years we'd lend each other a shoulder when it's needed. You know, you're only the fifth person to see me like this and understand. And three of them're dead," he tells her as they exit the elevator to an underground parking garage.

"Tseng, Angela, and Elly?" Elena guesses.

"Yep. Hey, do you mind driving? I'm not really feeling up to it."

"Sure. Which one's your's?"

"Take a guess."

She spends a few moments looking around. "That one's definitely you," she decides, pointing to a black thirty year old musclecar with blue and green flames painted on the hood and fenders. The windows are tinted black and a large chromed supercharger sticks up through the center of the hood.

"Good guess," he says while tossing her the keys.

"As old as this is, I'm surprised it's not stick," Elena states as she slides behind the wheel and settles into the dark blue leather bucket seat.

"It used to be. I couldn't stand shifting with my off hand so I had it converted to auto," he answers as Elena starts the engine. "It's got some other mods too." He presses a button on the dashboard and the hardtop roof folds up and disappears into the small space behind the two seats. "Turn right," he instructs as Elena pulls out of the garage.

"What do all these buttons do?" she asks while pointing to the dashboard in an attempt to force Reno to think of something other than the past.

"This one does the tire cutters in the hubcaps. These switches're for the nitro system. This controls tire pressure in case I have to go offroad. These ones over here adjust the suspension. I've got it set soft for cruising around town, but I can set it for high-performance too." He then moves the sliding switches he'd been talking about. "Feel the difference?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling every bump in the road now."

"Better traction that way," he explains as he returns it back to it's previous setting.

"This must've been expensive."

"I use it on jobs sometimes, so I was able to get the company to pay for most of the mods. Couldn't get them pay for the paint, but I tried. Check this one out." He presses another button and the left fender leans away from the car, opening a gap between the top of the fender and the hood. A light machinegun rises up from the gap and locks into place. "Trigger's on the wheel. It's thirty caliber, loaded with armor piercing and a tracer every five rounds for aiming. I've only had a couple chances to use that, it pretty much shreds cars." He presses the button again, causing the LMG to return to it's place under the hood. "I had to have the battery, brake cylinder, and washer fluid moved to the trunk to make room for that big bastard and it's ammo. Turn here."

"I didn't expect it to have that much firepower. What else've you armed it with?"

"That's pretty much it, except for some goodies I've got stashed in the trunk and here and there inside." He points to the dashboard. "Everything else there's for stuff like heating, air, radio, things like that. Hey, there's the place," he says while pointing to a 24-hour chain restaurant. Elena pulls into the near-empty parking lot and raises the roof and windows, then shuts the car off. The two exit the car and walk into the restaurant where they are quickly handed menus seated in a small booth. Elena orders a pair of malts, chocolate for her and an easy on the stomach vanilla for Reno.

"You know you forgot your goggles?"

"Really? Damn."

"So, what's the plan for when we go freelance?"

"Honestly, I haven't thought that far ahead. I never was much for long term plans. Hell, I always used to believe I'd never live to see twenty. Now here I am just a couple years away from thirty. All these years just living day to day. It's a weird feeling," Reno says, looking oddly wistful. "The type of feeling that gets me thinking about all the time I've wasted over the years, missed chances, all the shit I've done for the company..."

"I sure it hasn't all been that bad," Elena says as the malts arrive. "Like that story you told me with the big cardboard cake. Lots of people never get to experience anything like that. I'm sure you've plenty more good memories."

"Yeah, I know... I've got this bad habit of staying depressed for a while after having one of my recurring nightmares. Sorry if I'm dragging you down or anything. I'll get over it eventually, as long as I've got you and Rude around I won't stay down too long."

Elena remembers several times when Reno had been quiet and moody at work and makes the obvious connection, but doesn't say anything about it. "Once your stomach's settled, would it cheer you up if we unpacked one of those cases of liquor you brought and got wasted?"

"I wish. Normally I'm a goofy drunk, but when I'm in a mood like this I turn into a weepy drunk. It's not a pretty sight, Lena. You really don't want to see me wasted right now."

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. I guess the booze can wait till I cheer you up, then we can celebrate having you back to normal," she declares with a smile.

"Sounds nice."

"How's your stomach doing?"

"Better, the malt helped. I oughta be able to keep breakfast down if you're ready to order."

Elena waves over the tired looking waitress. "What'll it be, sugah?" she asks, eager for the end of her shift to arrive.

"I'll take the stack of pancakes and coffee," Elena answers.

"What about you, hon?"

"Same thing she's having, and a side of bacon." The waitress walks off to hand their orders to the cook, then returns with two mugs of coffee.

"What sort of work do you think we'll be doing when we start freelancing?"

"I talked to Reeve on the phone earlier, and he said he'd find something for us to do. Nothing specific, though. He'll probably have us spy on one of the other Shin-Ra factions, maybe do some sabotage if one looks like a threat. After that I figure we'll probably do private detective-type work or something like that. All low profile and mostly legal since we won't have government backing anymore."

"So no more wetwork?"

"Yeah, unless someone's dumb enough to give us a personal reason to come after them."

"Good, I never really liked that type of work. Unless it was personal. ...I hope you don't think I'm weak for admitting that." The two are silent for a few moments as the waitress delivers their breakfast and refills their mugs.

"We all knew already. It was kinda obvious when you'd drink heavier than normal after a hit. But it didn't stop you from doing your job professionally. Hell, none of us actually enjoyed killing cold, it was just part of the job. That's how it's supposed to be. See, an assassin who enjoys killing'll eventually start doing... extra in their spare time. Eventually they turn into a liability for the company. So they'd hire people who didn't really like that part of the job, but who'd be professional enough to do it anyways."

"Really? I never knew that."

"You'd have figured it out after enough time on the job." The two eat in silence for a few minutes.

"Mind if I steal a piece of your bacon?"

"Go for it." As they finish the last of their breakfast, the waitress brings them the bill and another coffee refill.

"It's a little after five," Elena announces after glancing at her watch. "Any idea how to kill time for the next few hours?"

"Well, I'd planned to work on your training a little during our downtime. If we weren't running on caffeine here, I'd head to the airport and get you some more flight hours, guess we'll have to work on something else."

"But none of the training facilities on the base'll be open before seven."

"We'll just have to do it old school. Drive out of town, find a nice open area, do a little sparing, maybe a little shooting. Oughta be enough to keep us busy until stuff starts opening."

"Sounds like it could be a fun change of pace. Should be better than a musty gym."

"Ready?" Reno asks after finishing his coffee. At her nod, he stands and pays the bill, then leads the way to his car.

"Finally feeling better?" she asks when Reno climbs into the driver's seat.

"A little," he answers as he starts the car and lowers the roof. "Thanks. Heh, you're probably getting tired of hearing me say that." His trademark smirk makes a brief appearance as he accelerates into the street.

"Don't worry about it. We headed anywhere particular?"

"Nope," he answers as he merges onto a highway. Noticing that the highway's empty, he takes advantage of the situation by adjusting the suspension, turning on the nitro, and pushing the gas pedal to the floorboard.

"What's the rush?" Elena yells to be heard over the sounds of the engine and wind.

"Nothing. An empty highway's just real tempting." After a few minutes, they exit Junon. Reno slows down and makes some adjustments to the controls on the dash, then goes off-road, driving down the coast. "I really like places like this," he confides in Elena as the city's lights recede behind them. "No people, no buildings, about as different from the slums as you can get."

"It's nice," she says while looking at the dark waters.

"Yeah, it feels good to get away from the city sometimes. I guess we're far enough south we won't have to worry about stepping on a rusty needle or something." He then brings the car to a halt and turns it off. They both exit the car, leaving their jackets and gunbelts on the seats. After looking around and seeing that the beach is entirely soft sand, Elena removes her sandals and tosses them in the car. Reno follows suit since he enjoys the feel of damp sand underfoot, mainly due to associating it with many of his happier memories.

He then walks around to the rear of the car and pops the trunk. "I thought so," he says after a brief search. After closing the trunk, he tosses a small object to Elena. Catching it easily, she recognizes it as a plastic training knife. Reno holds up another as he walks out to a point about halfway between the car and the surf. "We've already taught you the tricks you didn't know and everything else you need, so you'll just be working on refining it." He stands in a relaxed posture, arms hanging loosely at his sides. "Make your move," he challenges as the pre-dawn light outlines the mountains to the east.

Elena approaches casually until she's roughly six feet away from him. She then kicks a cloud of sand towards Reno's face and rushes forward in the cloud's wake, leading with the tip of her blade. Reno's unsurprised, since the first thing he'd taught her in combat training was to do whatever it takes to win. He sidesteps to his right and slashes forward into the space he'd just vacated. Elena has to quickly halt to avoid running into his blade. "Not bad," he states. "You'd have killed most people with that trick." She then slashes at his eyes, but it's a feint. As Reno leans back to avoid the slash, Elena slashes straight down, knowing that he'll have to bring his hips forward as his head goes back to keep his balance. After the initial impact, she turns the blade to the side and runs it down his inner thigh, tracing the line of his femoral artery. "Ow, shit!" Reno yells, wincing from the impact. "What'd I do to deserve castration? Wait, don't answer that."

"Sorry, I thought I pulled the hit more than that."

"Good thing I wasn't planning on ever having kids," he jokes. He then reaches into his back pocket and touches a compact pistol, using one of the materia orbs in it's grip to cast cure on himself. "That's better."

"I didn't hit you that hard, you big baby."

"Hey, materia's quicker than walking it off. Good hit, I'd be dead by now if it was live steel." He then pulls his hands up into a more defensive posture with his right hand open and palm down slightly in front of his mouth and his left a few inches in front of and below his right, holding his knife in a reverse grip with the tip pointing at Elena. He plants his feet firmly about shoulder-width apart and flexes his knees slightly, facing her head on so he can put both hands to good use. Elena adopts a similar posture, except with her knife in a foreword grip and her empty left hand slightly ahead of the blade.

Elena advances more cautiously this time. She uses measured thrusts to probe his defenses for weaknesses, tossing in an occasional cut to keep from becoming too predictable. He parries most of her strikes easily, occasionally launching a counter.

This continues for several intense minutes with neither landing anything more serious than a glancing strike which would result in superficial cuts with real knives. Elena then simultaneously launches a thrust at Reno's face and a low snap kick at his right knee. He responds by simply falling over to one side, dodging both attacks. Reno then scissors his legs, landing kicks on the front of Elena's left ankle and the back of her left knee at the same time, which throws her face first onto the sand. He then rolls towards her in an attempt to turn the throw into a joint lock. She twists to the side and rolls with him, avoiding the lock and attempting to reverse it. Both are focused fully on putting a lock on the other and are therefore very surprised when they roll right into the water.

They separate on impact. Elena brings her feet up near her head and then quickly kicks back down, snapping herself upright in the ankle-deep water. Reno kicks off the sandy bottom to gain some distance and uses the water to bring himself almost effortlessly to his feet in water that was a little less than waist-deep. "Wasn't expecting that!" he laughs as he stands.

"Back to normal?" Elena asks as she approaches him, seeing the laughter reflected in his eyes.

"Hell yeah, I'm back!" he announces while using both hands to splash water at Elena.

"Glad to see it," she laughs as she continues to advance, splashing back at Reno. Both continue to laugh as the formerly serious sparring match quickly degenerates into a childish splash fight. They run out of steam after a few minutes of this.

"Heh, that was fun," Reno comments while lazily treading water on his back, a contented expression on his face.

"I've never seen that expression on you before," Elena says. "I like it."

"Hey, sunrise," Reno remarks, pointing over her shoulder. Elena turns and sees that the mountains and the sparse clouds above them appear to be on fire, colored in streaks of vivid crimson and purple that are separated by bright pink.

"Wow. Somehow, it never looks this nice in the city."

"That's cause out here it's the only light. Nothing to distract from it."

"Heh, you're just full of surprises. I never figured you for the sunset watching type."

"It's a distraction. You know I like things that distract me, keep me from thinking on the past."

"That's your excuse if anyone catches you watching one, huh?"

"Maybe." _If you're going to ask, now'd be a good time. Shit, can't afford to screw this up. Play this wrong and you'll maybe alienate one of the only two people living who understand you. Hell of a thing to risk. What the hell, I thought my stomach was settled? If this keeps up, I'll need to chug some more pepto. Shit, gotta hurry up and make a decision_... Reno thinks as the sun crests the mountains.

"Hey, um... All that coffee I drank's finally catching up with me. Is there anywhere around here I can, well..."

 _And she breaks the mood. Yeah, go piss over there and while you're at it, maybe you could think about going out with me? Heh, that'd be a hell of a way to ask. Ah well, gives me more time to think._ "Just pick a spot on the beach and go. There's no one out here to see you," he says while standing and turning to look out to sea and give her privacy.

"You sure there's nowhere better? Alright, don't peek."

"Don't worry, Lena. I don't have that fetish. Even if I did, I don't feel like getting shot today," he answers with a laugh, wondering how badly she's blushing. After hearing her exit the water and the distinct sound of a zipper, Reno suddenly finds the waves and their noise very fascinating, focusing all his attention on them.

"Reno? What's okay to wipe with here? Those plants don't look very soft."

"Those plants'll give you a rash. Just use the water to clean up." He hears splashing behind him as she takes his advice. He's wondering if it's safe to turn around when he suddenly feels a weight crash into his back, knocking him face down in the water. "That's an odd way to thank me for not peeking," he observes after turning his head to get his face clear of the water.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," she says, partially laying across Reno's back in the shallow water.

"Heh, that's like something I'd do. That's the sorta excuse I'd use too."

"Guess I'm picking up your bad habits," she answers, drawing a laugh from him.

Reno begins to swim forward and is amused when Elena hitches a ride by grabbing onto his shoulders. "Lazy," he teases.

"Just another of your bad habits," she retorts.

Reno starts to swim out farther and notices that Elena's grip tightens and she tenses up. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry, I only learned to swim last year. I haven't had that many chances to practice and I've only ever swum in pools."

"The waves're bugging you, huh? Don't worry, I won't let you drown. Trust me, just relax and let go."

"Alright." As Elena releases her grip on Reno shoulders, he turns over so he can keep an eye on her.

"You're doing good, Lena," he says while keeping pace by her side as she swims in a slow front crawl. They stay in the water for over two hours, Elena gradually swimming faster, before climbing out onto the sand. "It's almost eight," Reno announces after checking his watch. "Ready to head back?"

"Yeah, that was pretty fun. Any chance you've got towels or dry clothes in your car?"

"Nope, I wasn't planning on getting wet or anything. It's got heated seats though. Hold on a second, gotta get rid of that coffee." He then turns away from Elena and unzips his pants. She looks away to give him privacy. "There, now everyone'll know I've been here," he announces while zipping his pants.

Elena turns and laughs when she sees that Reno's written his name in the sand. "Somehow I'm not surprised you did that," she teases. The two then walk to the car, pull their shoes and gunbelts back on, and drive off.

"You really seemed at home out there," Elena observes.

"It's from all the amphibious missions I've been on. Back in the war, Rude and me did a lot of missions where we'd land by parachute a mile or so offshore with a scuba tank and a compass and swim to the target. Slipped around the radar and sonar that way."

"Jeeze, I'm glad I haven't had any missions like that."

"Could be worse. A few years back I did a job where they dropped me about in the middle of the ocean with a rebreather, a grapple gun, and a tracking monitor so I could find the ship that was supposed to be headed my way. That was a interesting challenge. It was the middle of the night with ten-foot waves and I had to tag the ship with the grapple and pull myself on deck, then find and eliminate my target without being spotted. The target was some union leader who was giving the company all kinds of trouble with strikes, so old man Shin-Ra wanted him to disappear without a trace. That part was easy, I just strolled right in, snapped his neck while he was sleeping then carried him up on deck. I grabbed some chains on my way up, wrapped the body, then the two of us went over the side. Once the boat was out of range, I called for pick-up and a Gelnika seaplane swooped down and picked me up."

"Hey, there's a shoe store," Elena says, pointing.

Reno parks the car and the two exit, pulling on their jackets to conceal their weapons. The two make an odd sight as they walk in the store, clad in rumpled and slightly damp clothing. "Remember, you're just here to get a pair of comfortable shoes," he reminds her when he sees her eyeing an aisle stocked with high-heeled shoes.

"That doesn't mean I can't buy something fun while I'm at it. The company's picking up the check, right? Hey look at these ones." Reno rolls his eyes.

* * *

Much later, Reno shifts the large stack of shoeboxes he's carrying so he can see his watch. _What'd I do to deserve this? It's been over an hour now._ "Lena? We've been up and down every aisle twice now. You done yet?"

"Almost. I guess I can hurry up if you're gonna whine about it."

"Whine? I don't whine, Lena."

"There you go, whining again," she teases. "Alright, that's the last of them." She then takes half of the stack Reno's carrying, allowing him to see what's in front of him again.

"Finally."

"Hold on, I can't have you standing there all that time and not get anything out of it. Let's get you a pair too."

"Don't worry, mine're fine. They still have tread on them, see?" He lifts a foot to demonstrate.

"Not much, and they're looking pretty ratty."

"But they're broken in real nicely."

"And about to fall apart. Come on."

Reno gives it up as a lost cause and follows Elena into the men's section. "These ones look alright," he says, grabbing a pair his size that look like a newer version of the ones he's wearing. He then tries them on. "Comfortable enough. There, I'm done. Let's go check out."

"That was fast. Sure you don't want any more?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, let's get going." He hurries to the checkout before Elena can argue and charges everything to Shin-Ra. "Hope this all fits in my trunk." Reno jokes. The boxes fit easily.

"Hey, I just had an idea," Elena announces as Reno closes the trunk. She then grabs his arm and drags him across the street.

"What're you doing?" Reno reads the sign on the building they're approaching, Junon Body Art Studio. A smaller sign advertises tattoos and piercings, giving Reno a good idea about Elena's intentions. "A tattoo parlor that's open in the morning? What's the world coming to?" he jokes as she pulls him through the door.

A heavily tattooed and pierced employee, almost a walking advertisement for the store's products, approaches them. "Hi, what can I do for you?"

"Do you do custom tattoos?" Elena asks.

"Of course."

"Good. Take your shirt off, Reno."

"You want one too, huh?" he says while complying. The tattoo artist looks surprised by the assortment of armaments revealed when Reno removes his jacket.

"Can you give me one like that?" Elena asks, pointing at Reno's tattoo.

"Hey, that's pretty cool. Like an old-school military tattoo. Yeah, I can do that easily."

"That's because it is an old-school military tattoo," Reno informs him. "Show me some of your work before you ink her."

"Sure thing." He hands a photo album to Reno and Elena that shows much of his previous work. "I've never had an unsatisfied customer."

"Not bad," Reno pronounces. "You'll do."

"Alright, do you want it on the same arm?"

"No, she's right handed. This sorta tattoo's gotta be on the strong arm," Reno states. The tattoo artist directs Elena to sit in what looks like a dentist's chair, then moves another chair back to back with it for Reno to sit in so his tattoo can easily be used for reference. When Elena removes her jacket, he looks surprised at the amount of weapons she carries. He than uses a pen to copy the design so he'll have erasable lines to trace when he uses the tattoo gun. After sitting still for several minutes, Reno feels his PHS vibrate. He pulls it out, checks the number calling, then flips it open. "Hey, Rude. Finally awake?"

"Yeah. How you feeling?"

"Back to normal."

"I thought so."

"What d'ya mean?"

"I remember someone else who could snap you out of a depression fast like that."

"Yeah, me too. Hey, guess where we're at."

"No."

"Heh, you're no fun," Reno laughs. "We're in a tattoo parlor."

"What? Since when are tattoo parlors open at nine thirty in the morning? So what're you getting?"

"Yeah, it's strange, I've never seen one open this early before either. And I'm not the one getting drawn on. Lena's getting inked."

"Our old unit symbol?"

"Good guess. If this guy does a good job I might have him give mine a touch up. It's getting a little faded."

"Not a bad idea, I might find a place to work on mine later. I'm headed up to headquarters to make sure things're going smoothly. I'll check if Tseng's memorial's done after that. How about after you're done there we all meet up at the safehouse and head out to lunch? It oughta be sometime after eleven."

"Sounds good. See you then."

"Later."

"Hey, Lena, we're gonna meet up with Rude for lunch later," Reno says while pocketing his PHS.

"Alright."

The two sit quietly until a few minutes after Reno hears the tattoo gun begin to buzz. "How you doing back there, Lena?"

"Doing fine. It just tingles a little."

"Huh, guess they've got better equipment nowadays. The needles they used back in the day stung like hell."

They resume sitting in silence while the tattoo artist works. "All finished," he announces.

"Pretty good," Reno judges when he sees Elena's tattoo. "Now how about doing a touch-up on mine, it's getting a little faded."

"That's an easy job. Have a seat." He waves at the chair Elena had been sitting in. "This looks pretty old, how long've you had it?" he asks while fitting a fresh needle and ink reservoir to the tattoo gun.

"Twelve years."

"You fought in Wutai?" he asks while beginning to trace over the old lines with fresh black ink.

"Something like that."

"You're all finished." Reno looks his tattoo over and approves, then pays the bill. Reno and Elena then put their coats back on and head back to Reno's car.

"Any idea where we're gonna eat?" Elena asks as Reno starts the car.

Reno shrugs. "We'll figure it out when Rude shows up." He quickly drives back to the safehouse and the two make their way to the elevator, carrying the stacks of shoeboxes. After a short ride they enter the small apartment and place the shoeboxes on the conference table. "I think the coffee's wearing off," Reno announces with a yawn while tossing his jacket over a chair. He sits on the edge of the couch then leans back and stretches out, leaving his hands dangling over the top.

"Yeah I'm getting pretty tired too," Elena says, placing her jacket over another chair, then sitting down next to him. "Guess getting up so early's catching up to us."

"I guess so." _And I guess now's a good time to ask. Hell, my stomach's acting up again._ Reno's reverie is interrupted when Elena leans against him. Looking down, he sees that this is due to her falling asleep. _Heh, I guess now's not a good time. That looks like a good idea. Just a short nap until Rude shows up.._. Reno brings his arms down, wrapping one around Elena's shoulders, then closes his eyes and easily drifts into sleep.

Several minutes later Rude walks into the room and smiles at what he sees, glad that he's in the habit of moving silently. Deciding to let his friends catch up on their lost sleep, he quietly leaves a note in front of them on the conference table. On his way out the door, he's unable to resist pulling out his PHS and taking a quick picture. _I haven't seen either of them look that peaceful since before Tseng died. Have to show this to Reno later, see how he reacts._..

* * *

The first thing Reno notices upon waking is that Elena has somehow gone from leaning on him to using his chest for a pillow. _Well, this's definitely a nice way to wake up_. He notices that she has a faint smile on her face. _Must be a nice dream_. Looking up he sees that they've slept in past five in the evening. "Hey Lena, wake up," he says, gently shaking her. "Have a nice nap?" he asks when he sees her eyes open.

She looks at the clock. "Guess I was more tired than I thought," she says, standing up and stretching. Reno follows suit, causing his back to pop loudly. "Looks like Rude left us a note."

Reno reads it over her shoulder. 'Decided to let you two sleep. Call me when you wake up. -Rude'

"Lena, mind giving him a call while I try and find where I left my goggles?"

"No problem," she says, pulling her PHS out of a pocket and selecting Rude's number.

"Hi Elena," Rude answers.

"Hey Rude. Thanks for letting us rest."

"Sure. I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Alright, see you in a bit," she says before pocketing her PHS.

Reno walks back into the room, adjusting his goggles. _Alright, man, now's a good time to ask her. Let's just get it over with_...

"Reno?"

 _Okay, see what she wants, then get it over with._ "Yeah?"

"How about dinner, just the two of us?" she asks, looking nervous.

Reno looks surprised. "Wha... Lena, did you just ask me out?"

Elena begins to blush, but looks Reno in the eyes. "That's right. I'm not going to wait around for you to notice how I feel. I already made that mistake once, I'm not going to make it again. So what's your answer?" she asks as the blush begins to spread down her neck.

 _And she beats me to the punch. Guess I don't have to worry if she feels the same as me anymore. Alright now, play it cool._ "I'd love to," he answers. Reno then takes her hand and kisses the back of it. _Where the hell'd that come from? That wasn't cool, that was corny as hell! She's probably gonna think I'm some kinda dumbass now.._.

Elena's nervousness seems to disappear as a wide smile spreads across her face. "Thanks," she says, wrapping him in a hug.

 _Okay, maybe she likes corny. Or maybe I'm still not thinking straight_. "So where do you wanna go?"


	9. Louie's Bistro

"I hadn't really thought that far in advance," Elena answers. "I wasn't sure how you'd answer, so I was just looking at one problem at a time."

"Heh, I thought I was supposed to be the improvising risk-taker here," Reno remarks with a lopsided grin. "What happened to that timid rookie I used to know who had to have everything planned out?"

"She got off probation."

"Lucky me. Well, what sorta food do you feel like? You can get damn near anything in Junon."

"I don't know... nothing too fancy. Somewhere we can relax."

"Well, you're in luck. I just happen to know a lot of little hole-in-the-wall type places around here." He pauses to think a moment. "How's Costan food sound?"

"It sounds great. Just give me a minute to shower and change. These clothes're feeling kinda stiff from having all that seawater dry on them."

"Not a bad idea. Kinda starting to chafe here. Where you going?" he asks when she heads towards the apartment's exit.

"The Falcon. I figured I'd grab something nice to wear," she answers while walking out the door.

"This means I'll have to dress up, doesn't it?" he asks while walking into the elevator.

"Behave yourself and I won't make you wear a tie," Elena teases with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"You wouldn't!" Reno declares with an expression of mock-horror on his face and laughter in his eyes. When the elevator's doors open onto the roof, Reno and Elena are surprised by the sight of Rude perched on a ladder, putting the final touches on a large copy of their old unit symbol that he was painting freehand on the Falcon's tail. "I was wondering what you've been up to."

"Elena getting tattooed inspired me," he explains while climbing down the ladder. "I was just about to head in, just had to finish this one up so it'd dry evenly."

"Wow, I didn't know you could paint," Elena remarks.

"He doesn't get much chance to use it, but Rude's got a real talent for drawing. He's the one who designed that symbol back in the war."

"How'd your's turn out?" Rude asks. Elena responds by turning so her tattooed shoulder faces Rude. "Looks good. I had an idea for nose art too." He pulls a small sketchpad from a pocket and flips through it before holding it up, displaying a highly stylized sketch of a cartoon falcon in a Turk uniform and sunglasses that was leaning casually against a wall with one wing tucked into it's jacket as if reaching for a weapon.

"Yeah, that's pretty cool. How about giving it a smoke or something?" Reno suggests.

"That's really good. What else've you got in there?" Elena asks.

"Nothing important..." Rude states while quickly stuffing the pad back into a pocket and deciding to change the subject. "What's the plan for dinner?"

"Sorry, pal, but we're gonna ditch you tonight," Reno announces with a crooked grin while throwing an arm around Elena's waist.

"So you finally asked her out? About time..."

"What? No, I asked him. What's going on?" Elena asks, turning to look up at Reno. "Holy shit, I didn't know you could blush."

"I'm... blushing?" he asks, surprise and embarrassment mingling on his face. Elena responds by pulling a knife and holding it so he can see his reflection in the polished surface of the blade. "Holy shit, I am..."

"You look cute like that, but you've got some explaining to do," she says while putting the knife away.

"Well, the thing is... I've been thinking of asking you out for... a while. Almost did it twice this morning, but you broke the mood on the beach and fell asleep before I could ask after we got back to the safehouse. I was about to try again, but you beat me to it."

"It's almost funny how blind you two've been..." Rude observes. Elena looks surprised.

"Guess we've both got our eyes open now." Reno remarks. "So, how're you gonna keep yourself amused now that you've finished playing matchmaker with us?"

"Playing matchmaker?" Elena looks thoughtful as she reflects on a few recent conversations with Rude, seeing them in a new light.

"Hey, someone had to do it. Otherwise Meteor'd be about to hit and you two'd both still be wondering if the other'd be receptive." Both look embarrassed by this remark.

"I guess now that you've got us together, we could return the favor. Hey Lena, you know Rude has a crush on Tifa?" Now it's Rude's turn to look embarrassed.

"Really? How cute. You gonna ask her out when she gets here?"

"She's interested in Strife..."

"Want me to kill him for you?" Elena offers.

"Thanks for the offer, but it'd just piss her off."

"How about we hire some hookers to work him over, take pictures, and send them to her?" she suggests.

"That might work, but we won't have time before the mission. Besides, she already knows he loves someone else."

"Oh, one of those deals... Who's he love?" she asks, looking sympathetic.

"The Ancient."

"The flower bitch?" Old anger flashes in Elena's eyes. "I thought I'd heard the last of her."

"Hell of a tangle, huh?" Reno remarks. "I wanted you while you wanted Tseng while he wanted Aeris while she wanted Cloud. And at the same time Rude wanted Tifa while she wanted Cloud while he wanted Aeris. Damned mess was making us all miserable..."

"I didn't think 'a while' went back that far," Elena states, her eyes softening.

"What?"

"You said you'd been thinking of asking me out for a while, remember?"

"Yeah." He looks embarrassed again. "I figured I didn't have a chance with the way you were after Tseng, so I kinda pushed it down into the back of my mind and tried not to think about it. For a while there I even convinced myself I'd pushed it down far enough to forget it, but it was still there eating at me from the back of my mind. Pathetic, huh?"

"If so, that makes everyone in this mess pathetic." Elena seems to be at a loss for words for a moment. "Well, we've got most of the mess sorted out. I'll have to see if I can pull Tifa aside for some girl talk, let her know what a great guy Rude is. It'll be a long flight up to the crater, so maybe I could talk her into giving up on Strife or something. If that's not enough, we can do the hooker plan after we get back from the mission."

"Thanks. Just don't overdo it. Almost forgot, I've got something for you two." Rude pulls out his PHS and presses a few buttons. A moment later, Reno and Elena's PHSs vibrate. When they pull them out, they see that Rude's sent them a picture. Opening it, they see the picture Rude took earlier in the day of the two of them asleep on the couch, cuddled together with small contented smiles on their faces.

"Cute," Elena pronounces. "Looks like I've got a new wallpaper." She then presses the buttons necessary to set the image as the background on her PHS' screen.

"We oughta get going," Reno announces as he heads up the Falcon's ramp. Elena follows and the two start sorting through their luggage.

"You know, I've never had the chance to wear this anywhere," she says while unpacking a small black dress that was both sleeveless and strapless. She'd bought it after being asked out by Tseng and had almost thrown it away after receiving news of his death. Something had held her back, and she'd shoved it into the back of her closet instead. Reno grabs one of his suits that Elena had seemed to particularly like and a matching shirt, remembering that she'd said something about liking how it went with his eyes.

"Catch you later, big guy," Reno casually waves to Rude while passing by on the way back to the elevator. Rude silently waves back, then resumes painting.

"Funny thing," Elena says as they walk into the elevator, "I almost asked you this morning too, when we were out in the water."

"Heh, really? Hey, Lena, there's something I need to ask before we do this," Reno asks, suddenly turning serious. "This isn't... a pity date, is it? Cause I was looking damned pitiful this morning. I gotta know, so be honest."

"No, of course not. Remember last night when we were talking about how frustrating dating in the company was? That's why I asked you out. We both 'speak the same language', so it'll have a better chance of working out than, well, than any of the dates I've been on for the past few years. We've been through a lot of the same experiences, so I can relate to how you feel and you can do the same to me."

"So we can lick each other's wounds, huh?"

"Well, that's not how I'd phrase it... But it'd be better than worrying about the past by yourself," she answers as the pair exit the elevator and walk towards the apartment.

"Small comfort. But after all I've been through, I'll take what comfort I can get and I won't take it for granted." As he says this, Reno tentatively extends a hand to Elena.

"It's nice to be understood," Elena observes as she reaches out and takes his hand. "Another one of those small comforts, I guess."

"Sure is," he agrees with a smile as they walk into the apartment. Elena then walks into the bathroom while Reno settles onto the couch to wait. He lights a cigarette and simply relaxes while listening to the sound of running water from the shower. The almost hypnotic sound nearly lulls him to sleep.

A few short minutes later, Elena exits the bathroom clad in the dress she'd chosen which comes down to mid-thigh. The armor on her left forearm and the tattoo on her right shoulder look a bit out of place with the dress, but neither Turk cares. Although she would never be called voluptuous, the clingy material of her dress does an excellent job of accentuating the curves that were normally hidden beneath her loose fitting Turk uniform. Reno grins and lets out an appreciative wolf whistle at the sight. "Lookin' hot, Lena. So what're you packing? Can't be much under that little thing."

"It oughta be enough." she replies. She then lifts the hem of her skirt a couple inches, exposing a compact pistol holster that's strapped to the inside of her left thigh.

"Heh, anyone you have to shoot tonight'll get to enjoy the view before they die since you're carrying like that," Reno jokes.

"Yeah, I guess I'd have to flash my target when I draw," Elena laughs as Reno walks past her into the bathroom. She then walks over to the table and begins sorting through the stacks of shoeboxes, trying to decide which new pair would go best with her dress. She eventually gives up on finding a pair capable of both matching her dress and concealing a weapon and settles on a pair of simple black sandals with two inch heels. Shortly afterwards, Reno exits the bathroom wearing the as of yet unwrinkled suit he had chosen. Unsurprisingly, his shirt was untucked and half buttoned. "I'm jealous," she announces after pulling Reno's coat open, revealing his usual assortment of weapons. "How come guys get to look sexy in clothes with room for so many weapons?"

"If you're feeling that underarmed, you could always say to hell with concealment and walk around with a rifle or something slung on your back. You know no one'll have the guts to say anything about it," Reno jokes.

"Heh, like I won't be getting enough weird looks wearing my armor with this. And I was just messing with you, I'm packing enough materia it won't matter that I'm only carrying a pistol and a couple knives."

"You mean you don't think I look sexy?" he asks, feigning a hurt expression.

"What do you think, smartass?" she asks with a smirk and then casually slaps his butt while walking past him towards the door.

"I think I wasn't expecting to get groped until during the date," he answers with a grin as he follows Elena out of the apartment. She easily fends off his attempt to return the favor. "Hey, that's hardly fair," he complains as they walk into the elevator.

"Since when do Turks play fair?"

"Heh, got me there, Lena."

"So, where you taking me?"

"Just a quiet little place with the best Costan food in town. You'll like it," he informs her while walking towards his car.

"If it's that good, why's it so small?" she asks as they drive out of the garage.

"Because that's what the owner wants. He's just running the place to keep from getting bored in his retirement, it's not like he needs big profits or anything. Besides, you'd be surprised how often little obscure places have better food than the trendy expensive joints."

"Sounds like you're a regular there or something."

"I'll usually stop by when I'm in town and have some spare time," he says while turning down a side street. "Damned good food, they even make their own pasta. Only downside's there's no parking, so we'll have to walk a couple blocks," he informs her while pulling into a parking garage. "It's worth the walk, trust me." Upon exiting the car, Reno once again offers Elena his hand and the two walk hand-in-hand out of the garage and down the street. Of course, being Turks this gesture is tempered by tactical considerations; he holds her left hand in his right, leaving both their strong hands free in case they need to reach for a weapon.

"Quiet neighborhood," Elena comments.

"Yeah, nothing ever happens around here. There's the place." He points to a small restaurant that's part of a row of businesses about a block away. A small sign marks the place as Louie's Bistro.

"You weren't kidding when you called it a hole in the wall." The two silently walk the remaining distance and enter the restaurant. Glancing around, Elena notices that most of the customers are dangerous looking men in suits. A slim elderly man in a three-piece suit approaches them when they walk in the door. Something seems a little off about him, but Elena can't put her finger on it.

"Ah, Reno. It's been too long. So, who is this beautiful vision you've brought into my fine establishment?"

"Hey, Louie. This's Elena, newest member of the Turks."

"A pleasure to meet you. So I take it the two of you are here on business? I assume your mark will be arriving shortly."

"No, we're off the clock right now."

"Ah, I see. An office romance. I'll get you kids a nice cozy booth." He then leads the pair to a small booth with seat backs that connect with the ceiling and hands them menus and the wine list. "The waiter'll be by in a few minutes," he says before walking off.

"Heh, kids?" Elena wonders with an amused expression on her face.

"Yeah, he calls everyone who looks younger than fifty that."

"So, got any recommendations?" she asks while looking at her menu.

"Nah, it's all good here. You could pick something random and be happy with it."

"Hey, what's with all the suits?"

"Well, before he retired, Louie was a made man in the Costa Nostra. So they like to hang out and do business here."

"Wait, so you're a regular at a Mafia-owned restaurant and they know you're a Turk? What's the deal?"

"I'm not surprised you haven't heard about the agreement, since it's off the books." The waiter arrives then with two glasses of water, a basket of breadsticks, and a bowel of dipping sauce. Reno orders a bottle of Salento Chardonnay, then the waiter leaves. "After the war, the Mafia helped Shin-Ra consolidate their power." He pauses to eat a mouthful of breadstick. "We cut a deal with the families afterwards where they can basically do whatever they want as long as they give the company thirty percent of their profits, keep a low profile, and don't do anything to get in the company's way."

"Really? Huh, I knew the company was corrupt, but I didn't know it went that far. Hey, is that why Corneo only had his personal bodyguards with him in Wutai?" she speculates after taking a sip of wine.

"That's right. When we let the Mafia know what he'd done, they distanced themselves from him to save the agreement. When word got around, most of his people jumped ship. Hell, the mob even sent their own hitmen after him as a show of good faith."

"It wasn't just a show," Louie declares, returning to the table with a candelabra in hand and the waiter following him. "Heh, If I was thirty years younger, I would've beaten you kids to him and personally brought the fat prick's head to the president to let him know the families take their obligations seriously," he says while lighting the candles and placing the candelabra on the table. "But why're you kids talking business on a date? That's not how we wooed ladies back in my day."

"We're already past the whole wooing thing," Elena announces while the waiter pours two goblets of wine and hands them to the pair of Turks.

"Kids these days, always moving so fast. Well, I'll go ahead and give you better mood lighting anyway," he states while reaching up and turning off the lamp hanging over their table, leaving the low-ceilinged booth lit mainly by candles and mako eyes. "You kids don't need this thing anyway, what with your crazy glowing eyes. I'll get out of your way now so you two can enjoy your dinner," he says before walking off.

"Have you two decided yet?" the waiter asks.

"Yeah, I'll take the portabella lasagna," Elena orders.

Reno puts his finger down on the menu without looking. "Looks like I'm having the mostachiolli pomodoro." The waiter then takes their menus and leaves. "How d'you like it here so far, Lena?"

"Great atmosphere," she answers, looking into Reno's eyes over the tops of the candles. "The owner's kinda odd, though. Was he really an assassin?"

"Yeah. I got curious once and looked up his file at the office. Don't let the kind old man act fool you, he used to be the best in the business. He's on the short list of non-Turks I respect. The guy was actually younger than you when he became a made man. They called him Razor Louie, because his trademark was he always killed his targets with an old-fashioned straight razor. Then he'd carve his initials in the mark's forehead. That way everyone knew who did it, and the mark had to have a closed-casket funeral."

"Really? He must've made a lot of enemies working like that."

"Yeah, and he still managed to live long enough to retire. The old guy's still dangerous too. A couple years ago some dumbasses tried to mug him and turned up dead with 'RL' carved into their foreheads."

"With a rep like that, I bet people leave nice tips here," Elena jokes, drawing a laugh from Reno. The two then munch on breadsticks and sip wine in companionable silence while waiting for their meals. The waiter arrives a few minutes later with a fresh basket of breadsticks. Roughly twenty minutes later their meals arrive. "Smells great," she says as the waiter places their meals before them. Neither wastes any time before digging in.

"How's your fungus?"

"Mmmm," Elena mumbles around a mouthful. "Best lasagna I've ever had," she answers after swallowing. "Mind if I try a piece of the stuff you got?"

"Sure. I'll trade you for a bite of your's," Reno offers. He then spears one of the small stuffed pasta on his fork and holds it out to Elena. She leans forward and bites it off his fork, then chews it with a small smile.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said how good this place was," she says while cutting a small piece from her lasagna. She then offers it to Reno in the same manner he'd used.

"Yeah, and most people in town don't even know this place exists," he says after swallowing the lasagna he'd eaten from Elena's fork. The two quietly enjoy the rest of their entrees, neither feeling the need to fill the comfortable silence. No words are needed as both can see how the other feels by gazing into their eyes.

"Either of you want dessert?" the waiter asks when he's seen that they've finished.

"Yeah," Reno answers. "Bring us a big slice of tiramisu and two forks."

"Tira-what?" Elena asks as the waiter walks off.

"Tiramisu. It means 'pick me up' in Costan. It's this cake thingy with expresso, cheese, brandy, and stuff in it. It's tastier than it sounds. Funny story, supposedly the madam of some Costan brothel invented it. Story goes, her girls would eat a slice between clients and they'd get all energized and shit and be ready for the next client. They called it their pick me up and the name stuck."

"That true?"

Reno shrugs. "Dunno. It's just a funny old story on where the name came from. Could be true, stuff's got a shitload of sugar and caffeine in it. Wherever the name came from, it's seriously the best damned dessert I've ever had." The waiter returns and pushes the candelabra back, placing a large dessert plate in the center. He then hands each Turk a fork and places the bill on the table near Reno before retreating. Both take a forkful from their side of the slice.

"Holy shit, that's good," Elena breathes after swallowing her first bite.

"Told ya," he says with a crooked grin. The pair slowly work their way to the center of the dessert, relishing each bite. Finished, Reno grabs the bill, leaves a fair tip on the table, and then the two Turks walk over to the cash register where Louie's waiting. Reno pays cash, then heads towards the door.

"You two kids come back soon, if the world doesn't explode," Louie calls after them.

"Hey, long as you keep that chef, I'll keep coming back," Reno jokes while walking out the door.

"Now what?" Elena asks while once again taking Reno's hand.

"I've got an idea, but it's a surprise," he answers with a wink as the two walk back towards his car.

"This doesn't involve water balloons, does it?" she asks, remembering what had happened roughly a week ago after he said about the same thing.

"Heh, no, no water balloons. I'm not planning any pranks today. Maybe tomorrow," he answers while driving towards Junon's docks. The sun is just beginning to touch the horizon as he parks his car on the end of a long pier. The wavetips glimmer from being backlit while the light cloud cover above begins to redden as the pair of Turks exit the car.

"Nice surprise," Elena comments as the two walk towards the end of the pier. "You're not gonna try to claim it's just a distraction, are you?"

"Heh, guess I can't fool you anymore," he answers while sitting on the edge of the pier, allowing his legs to dangle over the edge. She seats herself next to him and leans her head against his shoulder as he wraps an arm around her. The pair is still and silent as they observe the sea and sky colored by streaks of crimson, yellow, and vivid purple.

"Beautiful," she murmurs after darkness fully falls. She then turns her head towards Reno and reaches up with one hand, caressing his cheek. "Who'd've thought Shin-Ra's most notorious womanizer'd have a romantic side?"

"Don't tell anyone, you'll ruin my reputation," he whispers as he leans in closer.

"Who'd believe me?" she asks in a whisper before closing the miniscule gap remaining between their lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter originally had a long delay before posting, since I'd scrapped most of the middle of my original outline after inspiration led me to ditch the originally planned light romantic tension for full blown romance. 
> 
> Maybe one of these days I'll follow my original plan all the way through a project, instead of revising it on the fly wherever whim and inspiration takes me. Nah, probably not.


	10. Twenty Questions

Minutes later, a light rain began to fall. "Your car's getting wet," Elena observes, glancing at the car which still had it's top down.

"Let it," Reno says while nuzzling the side of her neck. He then plants a trail of soft kisses up her neck to her earlobe and across to her mouth, where his tongue resumes it's interrupted exploration of Elena's mouth while his hands slowly caress her back. The pair attempt to ignore the light rain, but the weather is insistent, increasing the volume of falling water over the next several minutes.

"Maybe we oughta take this inside," Elena suggests.

"Yeah. Damn rain." Reno raises one hand, middle finger extended, and waves it in the general direction of the rain clouds, causing Elena to laugh. The pair then stand from their perch at the end of the pier and turn towards Reno's car. After standing, he slips his jacket off and places it over her shoulders while walking towards the car.

"Thanks Reno."

"Hey, it's nothing," he replies as they climb into the car and discover one of the lesser-known drawbacks of water-proof bucket seats when they both sit in shallow puddles that had formed on the seats. After turning the ignition, Reno immediately presses the buttons to raise the roof and windows and turn on the heaters built into the seats.

"It's still pretty early," she states after glancing at the clock on the dashboard while Reno backs up the car. "What else's fun to do around here?"

"Aren't any good movies out right now, and store's are all closed by now. Guess we could hit a bar."

"Alright, just remember you still owe me drinks for passing probation."

"Heh, guess you're not gonna let me forget," he jokes. After a short drive they arrive at the small bar they'd spent time in when they'd passed through town with Rufus's entourage earlier in the year. When the two damp Turks walk in many of the customers cast nervous glances at Reno's uncovered shoulder holsters since Elena was still wearing his jacket. "How about a little drinking game?" he asks as they walk up to the bar, where a space quickly clears for them.

"What's the rules?" she asks after they order their drinks, a Bailey's Martini for him and a Velvet Hammer for her.

"Simple. It's a variation on twenty questions, only instead of trying to figure out what each other's thinking of, the goal's just getting to know each other better. We each get twenty questions to ask about anything and take turns asking. If you don't want to answer, you have to take a shot of Vodka. Since I weigh more and've been drinking heavy longer, I'll take two shots if I don't answer. So, you in?"

"Sounds like fun. Hey, get us a bottle of Vodka and a shotglass," she orders the bartender. The two then carry their drinks to a small table in the corner of the bar.

"Alright then," Reno says after taking a sip of his sweet Martini, "you want to ask first or answer?"

"Hmmm. I'll answer first."

"Thought so. You want that last question, huh?"

"Yeah. Okay, my turn."

"Damn!" he exclaims after accidentally wasting his first question. "Devious woman..." he teases with a lopsided grin.

"All part and parcel of being a Turk," she says with an amused smile.

"Heh, yeah. And I'll take devious over boring any day. Alright, ask away."

Elena's silent for a few moments, thinking. "What's your greatest fear?"

"Being alone," he answers without hesitation. "I don't mean like being in a room by myself alone, I mean if something happens to you and Rude alone. You know, the type of alone I was before becoming a Turk. I couldn't deal with going back to that. That's another of my recurring nightmares, screwing up and losing the two of you. What's your big fear?"

"Rejection."

"And you asked me out anyway. Gutsy move."

"Thanks. It wasn't easy, but I was getting tired of that damned fear getting in my way. So, do you think that Holy thing Avalanche was going on about's gonna work?"

"Clever. If I take the shots you'll know my answer anyways." He pauses and takes a deep breath. "I've been all over the world, seen lot's of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe the planet's alive. There's no mystical Holy thing coming to our rescue just because some half-Cetra chick prayed to it before getting skewered. What'd you think of it before asking me?"

"That it sounds too good to be true. Midgar's S.O.L.. Probably the rest of the continent too."

"Maybe the whole world. But we might as well enjoy the time we've got left."

"Yeah," she agrees with a sigh. "I just wish we had more time. It's a shame neither of us asked for a date earlier."

"Hey, don't be like that," he says while reaching out and gently laying a hand over one of her's. "We can't change the past and there's no point wasting the little time we've got worrying about what could've been. And you never know, we might live to see next week after all. But until we find out, we oughta do like I used to in my downtime back in the war and live in the moment. Cause no matter how much time we get, it'll never be enough. So forget the past, forget the future, and just take whatever you can from now. You've still got eighteen questions left. Go on, anything you wanna know."

"Thanks. Hmmm. You allergic to anything?"

"Yeah. I picked up a Penicillin allergy during the war from getting it pumped into me all the times I got wounded. Then there's bee stings. I got stung on the hand on a mission last year and my hand swelled up so much there wasn't any space between my fingers anymore. Heh, Rude laughed his ass off when he saw it. Now I know copying your questions isn't all that creative, but're you allergic to anything?"

"Chocobos."

"Chocobos?" Reno laughs.

"Yeah, chocobos. I found out when a guy I was dating thought it'd be cute to tickle me with a chocobo feather. Gave me a real nasty rash and the dumbass didn't know when to quit. Funny thing, the next day at work he wouldn't tell anyone how his nose got broken. Guess I hurt his ego worse than his face."

"Heh, I'll have to remember to just use my fingers when I tickle you. I've had my nose broken enough times already."

"Yeah, you'd better. Alright, here's a more personal one. Not sure how I'm gonna phrase this..."

"Shoot."

"I managed to talk Rude into telling me what your unfulfilled promise was. Now, I already know what was holding you back since you told me in the hot tub the other day. What I'm trying to ask is, are you still having trouble with that fear?"

"It's still there, but it only held me back from starting serious relationships. Now that we've gone ahead and taken the risk, it's not really a problem anymore. We've both made ourselves vulnerable to some serious pain by opening up to each other like this, but feeling like this's worth the risk. I've missed this feeling more than I thought."

"What feeling?"

"Heh, you just wasted a question, Lena. You can read people well enough you oughta know the answer already."

"Yeah, but I wanna hear it."

"Falling in love. It's been too long. After all those years of pointless one-night stands I wasn't even sure if I could feel that again. But here I am, getting spun dizzy by the whirlwind again. That what you expected to hear?"

"Pretty much. You might want to stop wasting questions like that."

"Heh, yeah, that might be a good idea. But you asked two in a row, so I've another. Just out of curiosity, what was your first impression of me?"

"A sudden pain in the back of my head and then I woke up in a holding cell wondering what'd hit me."

Reno grins. "That's not what I meant, smartass. That doesn't count, cracking you over the head with my EMR wasn't exactly a formal introduction."

"Heh, it never hurts to try. Well, the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw you was wondering if your hair color's natural."

"I dye it."

"What?"

"Ha, tricked you into wasting another question! No, I'm messing with you. It's natural."

"Clever bastard," she says with an amused smile on her face.

"Hey, that's why you love me, right?" he asks, trying to look innocent.

"That's part of it, and I'm counting that as your next question. Anyways, after our first meeting, I had you pegged as an asshole with a big mouth. But I figured that at least working with you wouldn't be boring."

"Well yeah, when've I ever been boring? Shit, didn't mean to phrase that as a question."

"Too late. Being around you's never boring. So, ever have any phobias?"

"I used to have a problem with deep water, had to get over that the hard way. Heh, my first few amphibious missions sucked. Kept thinking I was gonna piss my wetsuit or something. How about you?"

"Large crowds make more nervous than I should be."

"Hey, at least it's a rational phobia. Crowds're dangerous. I can walk right up to a target in one that's dense enough and knife them and no one'll know what happened."

"Yeah, I guess so. Still, I wish my pulse didn't race in crowds."

"Be back in a moment, gotta go grab another round of drinks." he says before walking to the bar. He returns shortly with two fresh cocktails. "Alright, I think it's your turn."

"What was your hardest mission to go through with?"

"Destroying sector seven."

"I thought so."

"Why's that?"

"I was browsing through our files one day when I found the radio log for that mission. The file didn't seem right, so I got suspicious and managed to find an unedited copy cached in the company's central radio subsystems."

"And that's why we wanted our own IW specialist. I bet you coulda done a better job hiding that."

"Yeah. The uncut version really shocked me. I had to re-think my impression of you after hearing your reaction. And I never thought I'd hear Tseng or Rude beg."

"Yeah, I wasn't thinking too clearly. What I'd just done was... kinda overwhelming me. Good thing they were around to save me from myself."

"Hey, Turks stick together. It's what they were there for."

"Heh, yeah."

"Hey Reno, you've been with a lot of women. Ever catch any, you know, social diseases from any of them?"

He quirks an eyebrow at this question. "A few times. Thankfully, nothing materia couldn't cure. The whole burning and itching until I figured out what was going on and cured it got annoying enough that I got into the habit of always using rubbers. After that I hardly ever caught anything."

"How'd you manage to catch stuff using a condom?"

"Hey, rubbers can't protect my mouth," he explains with a wink and a crooked grin. "And you skipped my turn again. So what was your hardest mission to go through with?"

"One of my first solo missions. It was the first time I had to go kill someone up close. Can't remember the target's name. I made the mistake of hesitating. It wouldn't've been so hard if he'd fought back, but he started begging instead. Kept going on about his wife and kids. I knew he was probably just bullshiting me, but it didn't make it any easier to pull the trigger. I never hesitated again."

"I think I know which mission you're talking about. We all went out drinking afterwards and you drank a hell of a lot harder than usual. It was the first time we had to run you by the hospital for alcohol poisoning, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Hmm, what was your first mission?"

"To provide sniper support from half a mile away to a battalion from Soldier that was assaulting a regiment of entrenched Wutai troops. What's the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten?"

"Moldy pizza from a dumpster back when I was a kid. You?"

"I ate raw chocobo meat with maggots in it once back during the war. Rude and me were stuck behind enemy lines and out of rations when we found some dead cavalry. So we ate their birds."

"Heh, you got me beat on that one."

"Just another of my proud accomplishments," he says with a sardonic smile. "Beats starving."

"Hell, yeah."

"Alright, time for something more positive. What's your proudest moment?"

"Being told I'd passed my probationary period. What's yours?"

"Getting promoted to second-in-command. Ever have any serious relationships before this?"

"Once, back when I lived in the slums. It lasted two years. I lost Kahr when he ended up in the crossfire between two gangs. Just in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was the only one I ever trusted until I learned I could trust you guys after being a Turk for a while. Hey, there's this rumor going around that you're an exhibitionist. What's the deal with that?"

"Heh, I can explain that. Technically, I'm not an exhibitionist. But the way I lived in the war kinda destroyed mosta my inhibitions. Adjusting back to, you know, 'normal' society after coming back to Midgar was kinda hard. Heheh, I had this habit of washing all my clothes at once that really annoyed Tseng."

"How was that annoying?"

"I mean I took off what I was wearing and tossed it in the wash with the rest of my clothes. In a public laundromat with big windows up front looking out on a fairly busy street." Elena breaks out laughing at this. "Heh and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why everyone was giving me those strange looks. Hell, I thought they were staring at my scars, not my package. See, a lot of the time during the war, taking a bath meant stripping and walking into the ocean with a bar of soap, so I didn't see anything wrong with what I was doing. By the time Tseng'd broken me of that habit, the rumor'd gotten started."

"Every now and then someone'll wake me up by knocking on my door and being half-asleep'll make me slip up and forget to pull some pants on before opening the door. It doesn't happen often, but it's often enough to keep the rumor going. Hey, it's your turn to get drinks." he says handing her his company credit card. Elena quickly makes her way over to the bar, and then returns with their third round of drinks. "So, you got any bad habits aside from snooping through computers?"

"Not unless my drinking problem counts. And I guess smoking too."

"Nah, those're normal for a Turk. Anyone who can do work like we did and not become an alcoholic's either seriously messed up in the head or addicted to something a hell of a lot stronger than booze."

"I'm not sure if I should feel reassured or depressed by that..."

"Hey, at least neither habit has any consequences that can't be fixed by materia."

"Yeah, that's true. Alright, Reno, what's the most embarrassing mission you've been on?"

"Probably the time I had to dress as an obvious drag queen to infiltrate a club and plant bugs."

"How obvious?"

"Why aren't I surprised you asked that? Damn, there I go wasting questions again. Very obvious. Five o clock shadow, fishnet hose with leg hair sticking out, the works. Hell, I thought Rude was gonna hurt himself, he was laughing so damned hard. I couldn't help it, I looked so ridiculous that I joined in, laughed so hard I couldn't stay on my feet. Ever laugh so hard your eyes water?"

"A few times. Any chance there's a picture?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if Rude took one for blackmail when I wasn't looking. So there we were, sitting on the floor laughing our asses off, when Tseng walked in to tell us to hurry up. Guess we were contagious or something, cause then he starts laughing and has to sit down."

"Excuse me," the bartender says after walking up to their table, "we're about to close. You two'll have to leave."

Reno glances at his watch. "Damn, time flew. Alright, we're going." He then takes the bottle of Vodka in one hand and Elena's hand in the other and exits the bar. "Guess we'll have to finish this some other time."

"Only two questions left and we haven't even touched the bottle," Elena observes as they climb into his car for the short drive back to the safehouse.

"Must be a sign of trust or something." After shifting the car into drive, he drapes his right arm over her shoulders and she leans towards him, relaxing into his side. "Have fun?"

"Of course. At least that part of your reputation's true."

This draws a laugh from Reno. "Hey, my rep's not all rumors, you know. I earned at least some of it."

"Oh really, now? Which parts?"

"You really want me to answer that when it'll be more fun to have me show you?" he asks while pulling into the garage.

"Well, when you put it that way..." she chuckles. The two Turks then exit the car and stroll hand-in-hand to the elevator, where they silently ride up to their floor, wrapped in each other's arms.

After the short walk down the hallway, they spot a note taped to the door. 'Figured you two might want some privacy, so I'll be sacking out in the Falcon tonight. Have fun. -Rude'

"Considerate, isn't he?" Elena remarks while walking into the apartment.

"So, did he guess right?" Reno asks while closing the door. He then walks up behind her and folds his arms around her.

"Normally I end a first date with a kiss goodnight, unless it didn't go well, then they don't even get that. But I don't usually have first dates four days before the world's supposed to end." She turns in his embrace and tilts her head back, looking into his eyes. "It'd be a shame to waste any opportunity when we've so little time left. How about I make an exception for you and you show me the truth behind those rumors?" Elena suggests while reaching up and wrapping her arms around Reno's neck.

"Sounds fun," he answers before allowing himself to be pulled down into a deep kiss.


	11. The Morning After

_Mmmm... Wow, that was a nice dream._.. Elena thinks, deep in the fuzzy state that sometimes follows a particularly deep and restful sleep. _Strange pillow. Why's it feel like skin? Odd shape too.._. Her eyes slowly open and she sees a bare arm in front of her face. Her gaze travels up the arm and finds a familiar face, still peacefully asleep. _Guess it wasn't a dream. Good._ she thinks, having been briefly afraid that everything that had happened since waking up on the couch was just a fantasy. Closing her eyes, she lays her head back down on Reno's chest and relaxes, enjoying the simple pleasure of lying enwrapped by his arms. Almost of it's own accord, her right hand begins to slowly and gently trace the various scars on his chest.

Several minutes later she feels his breathing change as he awakens. "Morning, Lena. Sleep well?"

"Yeah, you make a good pillow." she answers, looking up at him and smiling. He chuckles at this comment.

"Wish I'd thought to grab a pillow or move us to the couch or something." he states while extending his arms over his head and stretching before bringing his arms back down to wrap around Elena again. "Sleeping on this table's gotten me all stiff."

"Yeah, you can say that again." she says while looking down and smirking. Her hand now traces the scars on his abdomen, drawing teasingly close without going below his waist.

"Heh, I was talking about my back."

"I know. This's pretty convenient. You always ready to go when you wake up?"

* * *

Some time later the two sit up on the conference table and Reno throws his legs over the edge, sending more of the old paperwork fluttering to the floor where it joins the memos and reports that had landed there during the night. He then leans back and stretches again, causing his back to emit a series of loud pops. "So, how'd the rumors hold up?" he casually asks, glancing over his shoulder.

"Fishing for an ego boost?" Elena teases with a playful expression on her face. _Gotta admit, it was the first time in over a year that I didn't have to fake it. No need to tell him though. His ego's big enough already._ "Let's just say I wouldn't've come back for more if you weren't any good. Besides, half the rumors about you contradict the other half."

"Heh, guess you're not the forgiving type, huh?" he jokes as he hops off the table. He then leans to one side, causing his back to pop again.

"Hey, in my experience, if a guy's no good the first time he'll be no good the next time." she explains while enjoying watching Reno work the kinks out of his back. "So why waste time on a second chance when it won't do any good?"

"Pretty harsh." he laughs before bending forward until his chest touches his knees, causing his back to emit a hideous crackling noise.

"Show off." Elena teases from her perch behind him.

"Nah," he jokes while straightening back up, "if I wanted to show off, I'd've stood on the table when I stretched."

The show over, Elena hops off her side of the table and steps on something cold and slimy. "You oughta watch where you throw these." she complains as she leans over to pick up the discarded condom.

"Hey, at least I tie them off."

"Yeah that reminds me, how the hell'd you tie them off one-handed anyway?" she asks while tossing the condom into a trash can.

"What, you weren't paying attention to my patented one-handed quick-change technique?" he teases.

"I would've but your other hand kept distracting me." she jokes.

"All part of the technique." he laughs. He reaches out and retrieves another condom from where it was stuck against the room's electric whiteboard. "Watch and learn." He then demonstrates the technique, putting a second knot in the condom.

Elena surveys the disaster zone the room had been turned into and finds another. "Like this?" she asks, replicating his trick.

"Damn, always impresses me how fast you pick stuff up." he comments. He then casually drops the one he'd been holding.

"Hey shouldn't we clean this up at least a bit?"

"I'll clean it next week."

"This city probably won't exist next week."

"Exactly." he says with a smirk while walking around the table towards her. "We'll be leaving town either tonight or early tomorrow and we'll probably never see this room again. So why waste time cleaning it?"

"Point. We oughta at least pick up our clothes though. You never know, we might get lucky and live long enough to use them again."

"Alright, I'll remember to grab this stuff before we leave. But only because I like the way that dress looks on you."

Elena runs a hand through her sweat-slicked hair. "I'm gonna go grab a quick shower."

"Mind if I join you?" Reno asks with a suggestive grin. She smiles slyly and responds by simply grabbing his ponytail and walking towards the bathroom, pulling him along behind her.

* * *

Quite a bit later Elena walks out of the bathroom, toweling her hair dry. "Why haven't you got a hair dryer here? You've got enough hair for one." Reno mumbles something incomprehensible as he walks out the door behind her. "What?"

He removes the toothbrush from his mouth before repeating himself. "I said, towels've always been good enough for me. Besides, if it's that important, why didn't you bring one?"

"I did, but it's up in the Falcon, buried behind a stack of ammo crates."

"Aww, poor Lena can't get to her hair dryer..." he teases.

"You're lucky I can't, or I'd probably be breaking it over your head right now." she retorts.

"But then you'd have it all backwards." he says while giving her a mischievous look.

"You're making less sense than usual, Reno."

"Well, if you're gonna make like a caveman you're supposed to bash me over the head before dragging me off by my hair. Doing it after's just messed up." This comment elicits laughter from Elena.

"Be careful what you ask for. I might just come after you with a blackjack next time I want you."

"Yeah, well..." He's interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. "This better be important. You see where the phone landed?"

After a brief search, Elena finds the teleconference phone under Reno's boxer shorts, which have the words 'I'm Huge In Wutai' printed on them. After picking it up she presses the connect button. "Hey, who's this?" she asks.

"Elena? Is Reno there?"

"Yeah, I'm here, Reeve. What's so important you had to call this number?" he answers from where he'd been searching the other side of the table.

"Well, for starters you weren't answering your PHS."

"Yeah, I was kinda busy." he says, glancing around the room and wondering where his PHS is.

"Yeah, you musta been busy. It took you long enough to answer the phone."

"We... were in the other room." Elena declares.

"Yep, nothing suspicious going on here." Reno says with a smirk.

"Right." Reeve's skepticism is obvious in his voice. "Anyway, I called to let you know Avalanche's regrouped and is getting ready to head towards Junon. They oughta get there sometime in the late afternoon if they don't hit any delays. Probably a little after four, Junon time."

"So how many showed up?" Elena asks.

"All of them."

"You gotta be shitting me. Seriously?" Reno asks.

"That's right. Looks like you get to use plan C after all."

"Heh, and I almost didn't bother making a plan for if they all showed up. So, there anything else you gotta say, or can me and Lena get back to doing nothing suspicious?"

Reeve laughs. "Alright, I can take a hint. You two have fun with whatever non-suspicious thing you're doing. Talk to you later." The line then goes dead with a click.

"Now, where were we?" Reno wonders.

"I can't believe it's almost over..."

"What?" Turning towards the source of the unexpected comment, he's surprised to see her facing away, head bowed.

"We've less than a day left before we've gotta get back to work, and maybe if we're lucky another two or three days before that damned giant rock kills us. It's... just not fair."

"No, it's not." Reno says softly while walking around the table towards Elena. "It's harsh, but... that's just how life is."

"I know." she agrees, voice thickening. "I don't know how many times I've seen how unfair life is, but it doesn't make it any easier to accept." Reno walks up behind her and folds his arms around her as she's speaking.

_Hold it together, man. You won't do her any good if you start falling apart too_. "You're right, Lena." he says as Elena turns in his arms and buries her face against his shoulder. "It hurts like hell, but there's not much we can do about it. I wish I could tell you everything's gonna be alright, but I won't lie to you. All we can do is get this last job done and hope for the best. Now come on, I know you're stronger than this. I know you've faced death before."

"It's not dying that bothers me. It's thinking of all the things we could do if we only had a little more time. All those opportunities we won't have."

"Hey, there's always the long shot, Holy might work." he says, his voice beginning grow thick with emotion as well.

"You don't believe that."

"I've been wrong before. I didn't believe most of Avalanche would have the guts to show up, but I was wrong on that. Maybe I'll be wrong about Holy too. Besides, if I didn't think there was any chance of it working, would I've bothered using rubbers? But either way, for what little it's worth, I'll stay with you till the end. I know that's not much, but it's all I can do." He sighs, feeling helpless. "I wish... goddamn, I wish I could do more for you..."

"Don't sell yourself short. You're not the only one who appreciates the little comforts, remember?" She lifts her tear-streaked face to look him in the eyes, noting as she does so, the intersections formed by the scars on his cheeks and his tears. "This helps, really. I've just gotta get this outta my system." He nods silently and she lowers her face back to his shoulder. The two stand silently together, holding each other and thinking of all the things they believe they'll never be able to do together, then letting those things go. "That bastard'll pay for stealing our future." Elena declares in an angry voice after having mourned for the future that both Turks desire, yet believe to be unattainable.

"You're damned right he will." Reno agrees in a calmer voice. "We mighta been sentenced to death by that damn rock, but Sephiroth's gonna die first. It might be the last thing we do, but it'll be worth it to spit in his eye and fuck up his plan." Both are then silent for a few minutes. "So, feeling any better?"

"Good enough. I've looked at our doom head on. I can deal with it now."

"Glad to hear it. A little catharsis every now 'n then's good for you, keeps you sane. Damned strange doing it sober, though..."

She looks up at him with a small smile. "Sorry I didn't give you enough warning to get trashed before making you cry."

"Heh, it's just as well. If I did, I'd still be drunk off my ass when Avalanche got here. It'd be an interesting briefing, but we probably wouldn't get much done." Elena laughs at the mental image she gets from this. "Now there's something I love to see." he says with a smile while watching her laugh. He then looks at the clock. "So, you want late breakfast or early lunch?"

"I think we oughta get dressed first."

"What, you don't wanna streak?" he teases. "Alright, time to get back in uniform." After a brief kiss, the pair finally release their tight holds on one another and walk back to the bedroom where they retrieve fresh uniforms from their suitcases. After quickly dressing, they return to the main room and begin to retrieve the weapons and other equipment in their clothes from the previous day. Having carried much less, Elena finishes while Reno's barely started picking his gear up. "Hey, mind seeing what Rude's been up to since I haven't tracked down my phone yet?"

"No problem." She then flips open her PHS and selects Rude's name from the speed-dial list.

"Morning, Elena. How'd it go?" he greets her after answering his PHS.

"It went great. So what've you been up to?"

"Not much. After finishing up the Falcon, I basically just relaxed. Worked on some sketches and drank about half a bottle of single-malt Scotch. Nothing exciting. Is it safe to come back downstairs?"

"Yeah, it's safe. Hey, Reeve called. Avalanche's on the way over. He says they oughta get here around four. Guess what else he said?"

"Why? It'd be easier to just tell me." he suggests wryly.

Elena laughs at this suggestion. It had taken her some time to get used to Rude's generally dry sense of humor, but she could now usually tell when he was joking. "Come on, guess."

"Cait got tired of following orders and ran away to join a traveling circus? The little guy can juggle well enough..."

"Heh, no. But he's involved."

"Palmer got his sanity back and came up with a plan to deal with Meteor?"

"He used to be sane?"

"Yeah. Used to be skinny too. He was a general in the Shin-Ra air corps back during the war. Afterwards, he put everything he had into space exploration. Poor guy snapped when the old man pulled the rug out from under his department. The president thought his whole department was a joke, so he went ahead and left Palmer in charge of it."

"Huh, first time I heard that. But that's even farther off than your first guess."

"I give up, go ahead and tell me."

"Already? Alright, everyone from Avalanche's coming."

"Didn't see that coming. I thought at least Godo's kid would back out." he says as he walks into the apartment and pockets his PHS. He pauses a moment in the doorway to survey the mess before bursting out laughing. "I see there's no point in asking if I guessed right about you two wanting privacy." Elena blushes at this remark.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Reno asks, trying hard to look innocent while standing on a chair to retrieve his shirt from the ceiling fan.

"You really need to ask?"

"Heh, you think it's bad now, you shoulda seen it after we woke up. You have breakfast yet?"

"Nope."

"Let's go grab some grub then." That said, he leads his team out of the apartment.

"Let's take my car, it's got plenty of room." Rude states as the three walk towards the elevator.

"Shotgun!" Reno and Elena announce almost simultaneously, causing Rude to laugh.

"Flip a coin for it?" Reno offers.


	12. Last Day

Having won the coin toss on the elevator ride down to the garage, Elena finds herself climbing into the front passenger side seat of Rude's large car. He drives a sleek black coupe of similar vintage to Reno's car, with dark tinted windows and a chrome hood ornament shaped like a leaping cat. "Wow, nice." she comments while looking around at the luxurious interior.

"Thanks." Rude replies as he cranks the ignition. "I've put a lot of gil into it."

"And it's still not as fast as mine." Reno remarks with a smirk from the back seat where he stretches out and puts his feet up on the seat.

"What was that? You forget who's got a turbocharged V-12 under their hood or something?" he retorts while driving out of the garage.

"It's all in the power to weight ratio, my man. This thing takes too long to get moving and handles like a brick."

"Brick? This brick has your under-armored piece of junk beat on top speed and outguns it."

"Hey, are you two boys gonna keep fighting about your toys all day, or are we gonna pick a place to eat?"

"Dunno, Lena. You never did answer my question earlier. You want late breakfast or early lunch?" Reno asks.

"It's getting a little late for breakfast. How about a big lunch, somewhere quick?"

"There's a McMoogle's down the street." Rude suggests.

"Good enough." she pronounces.

"Alright, then. Hey Rude, you decide what you're gonna say to Tifa when she gets here?" their leader asks.

"..." Rude does his best impression of a statue.

"Don't give me that shit. You're running out of time to make your move."

"Yeah, you need to at least tell her how you feel before Meteor hits." Elena adds, double teaming Rude.

"...she probably already has a good idea after overhearing us at Gongaga."

"Sounds like I missed something back there."

"Yeah, while you were patrolling the perimeter, I was bugging Rude about who he's got a crush on. I've known him long enough I can tell when he's got something on his mind, can usually make a damn good guess what it's about too. Avalanche had the bad timing to show up just when I got him to fess up."

"I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye, then I saw them standing a few feet away. Tifa and Strife looked surprised and that Ancient was standing there giggling. Reno hadn't noticed them yet and I was trying to decide what to do when you ran up."

"All she heard was you liked her, not why." Reno points out. "Hell, she probably just assumed you liked her knockers or something. Bet she got a lot of that at her old job."

"Yeah, you have to let her know there's more to it than how she looks. There is, isn't there?"

"Of course there is." he answers while pulling into the line at the drive-through.

"Like what?" she asks.

"..." Rude is looking visibly uncomfortable, at least to those who know him well enough to read him.

"Spit it out." Reno demands. "You know you can tell us anything, so don't pull that shyness bullshit. Hell, we already know you've got it bad for her, just tell us why. Think of it like practice, telling us'll make it easier to tell her."

"I'm not sure how to phrase this..."

"Hey, you're not asking us out, so don't worry about sounding smooth. Save that for when you tell her." Elena suggests.

"...everything about her, really. How she acts, how she moves, how she reacts, her personality, how she looks..."

"How about something more specific." Reno instructs.

"Well, for starters... I guess you could say I really respect... I suppose you could call it her inner strength. She lost almost everything in the Nibleheim incident, but kept going with her life anyway. And she didn't become bitter or turn into one of those drones with dead eyes you see so often in the slums. Somehow she managed to stay... well, nice."

"So you like her spirit." Elena states.

"Yeah, that's the word I was looking for. I've seen plenty of people broken by less than what she's gone through, but she has a strong enough spirit to deal with all the shit life's thrown at her. And on top of that, she's one of the kindest people I've ever seen. I've spent enough time on stakeouts keeping an eye on Avalanche that I can tell it's not just an act. She's got a good head on her too. That's what attracts me to her, even more than the physical stuff. But I'm still not sure what to say to her. I'm no ladies' man." he laments.

"Maybe not, but you musta picked up something from all the time you've spent as my wingman. After all those years of hitting bars together, cruising for chicks, you oughta be able to do some of my moves. And if all else fails, you can always walk up to her and say 'Nice shoes, wanna fuck?'." he jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood in the car. "Hey, it works on me." This comment draws laughter from his partners.

"Oh, really?" his lover asks while shooting an amused glance in his direction.

"You don't believe me, Lena? Go on, try it."

"I'll take you up on that later, somewhere more private." she says as the line finally advances far enough for Rude to pull up to the speaker by the menu.

"Welcome to McMoogle's, what would you like to order?" an incredibly bored-sounding voice says from the speaker.

"Two big moogles, large onion rings, large coffee." Rude orders. "What do you two want?"

"Double moogle with cheese, ceaser side salad, large fries, large coffee." Elena answers.

"BLT, eight-piece moogle nuggets with buffalo sauce, large fries, large coffee." Reno states. Rude passes their orders along.

"That'll be forty-three gil. Pay at the first window and have a moogle-rific day." the bored voice states.

"Heh, almost feel sorry for that kid, having to say stupid shit like that. Who the hell comes up with all those idiotic names?" Reno chuckles. "Anyways, you worry too much, big guy. Just tell her what you want her to know, get it over with. Hey, if she's as kind as you say, worst case scenario's just her letting you down easy."

"There's still the Strife problem."

"Just tell her 'Lose the zero and get with the hero' like I'd do." Reno jokes. "Seriously, though, she's probably getting tired of waiting for the asshole to notice her." The conversation pauses as they pull up to the first window and Rude pays the cashier.

"It's been over a year since he came back to Midgar, right?" Elena asks. "She's gotta be pretty damned frustrated by now." A rueful smile crosses her face. "Trust me on this, being ignored like that by someone who's right next to you nearly every day's very frustrating. She should be getting pissed off at him and trying to hide it by now. That's your chance, let her know she's got another choice. There's no way she wants to spend the last few days till the end of the world frustrated."

"Thanks." Rude says with a rare and faint smile on his face. "I still haven't decided how, but I'll try." He then pulls forward and accepts their food and drinks from the last window in the drive-through. "Back to the safehouse?" he asks while passing around the food.

"Nah, I wanted to show Lena the Brown Box." At her inquisitive glance, he elaborates, "It's a novelty store. The fun type, one of the ones you've gotta be eighteen or older to get into. It's where I got my fun t-shirt collection. They sell the best massage oil too."

"Sounds interesting." she says before taking a bite of her sandwich. They drive in silence for several minutes, devouring their lunches.

"Here we are." Reno announces around a mouthful of fries as Rude parks in front of a small windowless building on one of Junon's back streets. He leaves the engine running while the trio finish their lunches. Looking out the window, Elena notices a small sign above the door that's painted to look like cardboard and proclaims the building to be 'The Plain Brown Box'. A smaller sign on the door says 'Must Be 18 to Enter; We Card'. After finishing their meals, Rude turns off his car and the trio enter the building.

"Holy shit, that thing's bigger than my arm!" Elena says, surprised at the sight of the large purple device hanging on the wall opposite the entrance.

"Want me to buy it for you?" Reno asks with laughter in his eyes.

"Hell, no! That thing looks painful. Who the hell would buy one that big?"

"No one, apparently. That's been hanging there for years." Rude states.

"Yeah, it's like the store mascot by now. Heh, this place's never boring." Reno laughs while walking towards a rack of clothing. "Hey, Lena. Check it out, I found one that's perfect for you."

Walking closer, she laughs when she sees that he's holding up a shirt that says 'It's Not PMS, It's You'. "That would've been handy for the first few missions we went on." she remarks, remembering the friction that had existed early on between her and Reno and the frequent PMS jokes that had made it worse. "They have one my size?"

"Probably. Or you could go for the opposite message." he says before holding up a shirt that says 'Not Now, I'm Bleeding'.

"Heh, that's just wrong. I'll take the first type."

"Here's a good one." Rude announces, holding up one that says 'Narcoleptics Sleep Around'.

"Hey, this's new." Reno declares when he finds a shirt that says 'I Eat More Pussy Than Cervical Cancer'. "Perfect for me, right Lena?" he asks with a wink.

"Whatever you say, douche breath."

Reno grins at her comment. "Hey, and here's a two sided one that'd go good on you." He holds up a shirt that says 'Who Needs Huge Melons?' on the front, then turns it around, showing the message 'When You Have An Ass Like This' on the back.

"Are you saying my breasts're too small?" she asks, looking upset.

 _Shit, didn't think she'd take it that way. Guess I just found one of her buttons_. "Course not, Lena. I'm saying you've got a great ass." As if to prove his point, he reaches around her and squeezes her rear, pulling her into a hug. "Where'd you get this bullshit too small idea? I like 'em this size." _And every other size, but that's not important right now.._.

"You're not just saying that to try and cheer me up? Or avoid having me kick your ass?"

"Hell no. I thought I proved that to you last night. And this morning. Guess I'll just hafta keep proving it to you till you believe me." he says with a suggestive grin. Elena smiles and practically melts against her lover.

"Get a room, you two." Rude jokes. This comment causes Reno to chuckle and Elena to lightly blush.

"Later." he whispers in her ear, a promise that sends a shiver of anticipation coursing down her spine. "So, got a favorite scent?"

"Huh? That was random."

He directs her attention to a shelf loaded with an assortment of scented massage oils as an explanation. "We used mosta my supply last night. So, what do ya wanna smell next time?"

"This could take awhile..." she remarks as she begins to browse through the various types of oils. The guys spread out and look around the rest of the store.

 _Probably should stock up on these._ Reno thinks, looking at a shelf of condoms. _Hmmm... Three days, both of us expecting to die at the end of it, we're gonna go through a lot of these... Gotta get a fun assortment of the novelty types too... Now, double it in case Rude gets the best case scenario with Tifa, add a few more boxes in case Meteor doesn't kill us, and we're set._

"Think you've got enough?" Rude asks, one eyebrow visible above the frame of his shades.

"Hey, Tseng always told me a leader needs to prepare for every contingency. Bet he never thought I'd use his advice like this." he answers with his trademark smirk. "Add in the ones I've got stashed at the safehouse and we'll have plenty even if you get lucky with Tifa and Meteor doesn't kill us."

"I wonder which is less likely..."

"Isn't it obvious? You saw the projections the science department came up with for the impact. You've got a better chance of scoring than of living to next week."

"Kinda sad when something like that's encouraging..."

"Yeah... But I seriously think you've got good odds on winning her. Those last couple days of life're gonna be fun."

"It took a while, but I picked some." Elena announces, walking up with several bottles of oil and a few shirts. "Wow, someone's an optimist." she quips on seeing Reno holding an armload of condom boxes.

"Half're for Rude." he explains with a grin.

"It's still a lot."

"Yeah." he agrees, his grin growing wider.

"Optimist." she teases. After browsing a bit more, the trio check out and pile back into Rude's car.

"Back to the safehouse." Reno orders. "Time to pack up and get our gear together."

* * *

A short while later, the Turks exit the elevator onto the roof, carrying their luggage and recent purchases. "Hey Lena, you decide what gun you're gonna bring?" Reno asks. "May as well bring something big, no need to worry about concealment on this mission."

"Yeah, I was gonna bring this." she states before tossing Reno one of the compact rifles with mini grenade launchers that she'd looted from the Shin-Ra building.

"Nice." he says while shouldering the weapon and looking down the sights. Then he looks down and notices the ejection port pointed right at his face. "Son of a bitch. Those goddamned, cocksucking, motherfucking, anti-lefty bastards in weapons development did it again," he snarls. "I swear, someone down there hates me. Always making these right-hander-only weapons that toss hot brass in my face. I'll just take my old rifle." He then tosses the rifle back to Elena and picks up his old rifle from the war. He also grabs the anti-tank missile he'd packed.

"Told you he'd be pissed." Rude remarks. "Guess I'll grab one of these new ones too."

"Might want to check the storage downstairs before you do that." Reno suggests. "Last time I was here solo I swiped a M-144 minigun from a chopper in the boneyard and had the base armorer set it up to use on foot. Figured it might be useful for a raid or something."

Rude lets out a low whistle, impressed. "Guess I'll be taking that then." Primary weapons selected, the three begin to sort through their looted materia.

"What's an Underwater?" Elena asks, holding an unfamiliar orb. "I've never seen one of these."

"That's a fun one." Reno answers. "They made that to replace the old rebreathers and scuba gear we used to use. It lets you breathe and talk normally underwater and gives you a bit of protection from the bends and freezing to death. No limit to how long you can stay down, either."

"Those were always good to 'borrow' before taking vacation time on a coast." Rude adds.

"There's a lot of stuff in here you can't find in stores." Reno points out while holding up a small red orb with the name 'Raiden' etched into it's surface. "The company kept a lot of fun stuff to itself." Several minutes later they've sorted out materia and other equipment that will be useful on their mission. "We've got a few more hours. Hey Lena, I know how much you love to fly. Wanna try the fastest plane in the company?"

"You need to ask? Let's go!" she says, excitement sparkling in her eyes.

"Joyriding in a T-8 sounds fun. Think I'll swipe one too." Rude announces.


	13. The Red Carpet

Forced back in her seat by the G-force, Elena was having the time of her life. Pulling her T-8 trainer jet out of a tight corkscrew, she lets out a loud whoop of exhilaration. "Having fun?" Reno asks with a wide grin from the rear seat.

"You really need to ask?" she laughs. "It's the most fun I've ever had with my clothes on!" Ahead of her, she sees Rude's jet pull straight up, then break hard right when it was on the verge of stalling and begin a spiraling decent, right on the edge of losing control. He then pulls out of the spiral and climbs back to cruising altitude. With a grin plastered on her face, Elena imitates the maneuver, coming close to stalling several times. After she had gotten the hang of controlling the jet, Rude had challenged her to a simple game where he would perform an aerobatic maneuver and she would attempt to reproduce it. The moves had started simple and were becoming increasingly complex, but she was doing well at keeping up.

"Just picked up a blip on the radar, about the size we're waiting for."

"Already?" Reno looks down at his watch. "Damn, lost track of time. Let's check it out."

"Race you!" Elena challenges while pushing her throttle all the way forward. A short time later a shining speck appears on the horizon.

"Hey, you motherfucking bogies, this's the airship Highwind, who the hell are you?" a rough voice says over the radio.

"Just your boss for the rest of the week. You're late." Reno replies with a smirk.

"Late! Fuck you, we're fucking early you goddamned piece of shit! The hell're you twats doing all the fucking way out here, anyway? Setting out the goddamned red fucking carpet or something?"

"Nah, just messing around, joyriding in some T-8s." he answers, now close enough to the Highwind that Rude and Elena begin to circle it at close range, startling it's passengers.

"Shit, now that's a fine fucking plane. Why the hell're you fucking around out here? Ain't you assholes supposed to be getting shit together for fucking up that shit eating bastard Sephiroth?" Cid asks relatively politely, at least by his standards.

"Shit's ready on our end. We're just waiting for you to get your slow ass to Junon so we can finish up and get going." Reno baits, knowing Cid will be unable to resist firing back.

"The hell was that! Fucking slow! Shit, motherfucker, you're talking to the fastest damn pilot on the fucking planet! Goddamn! You losing your fucking memory or something?"

"Heh, just messing with you. We'll have a briefing ready when you get to town. See you on the ground." He then turns the radio off. "Let's head back." Elena turns her jet back towards Junon and Rude follows. Not being in a particular hurry since their jets are significantly faster than the Highwind, they perform several loops and corkscrews on the way back to the airfield.

* * *

When they get near Junon, Reno turns the radio back on. "Hey Rude, me and Lena're gonna get the briefing room ready and get some refreshments and shit. Hang out by the landing strip and show our guests to briefing room B when they land. Keep an eye out for your chance to make a move on Tifa."

"Right."

"Good luck! Go get her, big guy!" Elena encourages.

After watching the Highwind moor itself, Rude walks out onto the runway and meets the Members of Avalanche at the bottom of the Highwind's ladder. "Where's the others?" Cloud asks.

"Preparing the briefing room." Rude replies, making an effort to not seem cold, yet still preserve his professional image. "Reno's also getting refreshments, so if anyone doesn't want to drink liquor, tell me now and we can stop by the base cafeteria."

"Yeah, I want some fucking tea."

Rude's professional facade cracks enough for him to look surprised. "You're serious?"

"Yeah, Shera talked me into giving the shit up. Twelve fucking steps and everything."

"Reno'll be shocked." Rude proclaims, shaking his head in disbelief.

"What, was Red looking forward to fucking up some bars like in the old days?"

"You knew them?" Tifa asks, surprised.

"Mus' be how he got so ornery." Barret comments.

"Yeah, we were all in the fucking pointless war together. Say what you will about them, but those assholes knew how to fucking party. We musta torn up every damned bar and officer's lounge between Midgar and Wutai."

"We probably did. Good times, especially when Havoc was around..." Rude agrees.

"Shit, yeah. Good fucking times."

"Havoc? Colonel Havoc?" Cloud asks, recognizing the name. Although not as famous as Sephiroth, Havoc, along with every other high-ranked member of Soldier who appeared regularly on recruiting posters, had been among his pantheon of boyhood heroes.

"Yeah, the goddamned air cavalry guy. One of the only high-up Solider-boys who wasn't a fucking stuck-up shithead. Shit, we were all drinking buddies back then. Damn shame he got his ass killed."

Rude nods his agreement, feeling nostalgic. "Brawling just wasn't as much fun after that..."

"Cause we all knew there was no fucking way in hell we'd have another Sake Offensive." Cid laughs.

"I've never heard of that battle." Cloud remarks.

"How the hell didn't you? It was fucking legendary. Everyone in the fucking military knew bout it. Course, it wasn't exactly a battle. I was on leave with my squad in this little shithole of a town back behind our lines, hanging out in a shitty little bar. Four pilots and four gunners, the toughest sons of bitches in the whole goddamned Air Corp. We'd barely started getting fuckeded up when in walks Baldy here with Red, their sweethearts, and two other Turks."

"She was just a friend."

"Who the hell'd you two think you were fooling, other than yourselves? Well, what-fucking-ever. In walks Baldy, Red, Red's sweetheart, and three other Turks. Their crew spots mine right off the fucking bat, heads on over and yells for a round of drinks. Bartender's getting a little pale, cause we had some shitty reputations back then. Specially me, Red, and Havoc. Anyways, the party was starting to heat up, we'd already broken a few chairs and a table, when in walks that crazy motherfucker Havoc with his command staff, about a half dozen officers and NCOs. Now, you see, Havoc's crew took the cavalry part of the whole air-cav thing a little too damned seriously. Old-style cavalry boots, spurs, fancy-ass cavalry hats, all that shit. Probably on account of Havoc being the smart motherfucker that came up with the idea. They see us and Havoc pulls out a fucking bugle, I shit you not, and blows an old-fashioned cavalry charge. That's when shit officially got out of fucking hand." he says with a laugh.

"We had that place fucked up in record time. Probably wasn't ten minutes later we were helping our buddies up, dusting ourselves off, then heading down the street to the next damn bar. That poor fucking bartender damn-near shit himself when he saw us all come piling in through his fucking door. Same damn thing happened, so we headed on to the next bar. By this time, word was starting to get around, and everyone was closing their bars early. MPs came by a couple times and got their worthless fucking asses kicked trying to stop us. I forget how many places we tore through and shat up before we couldn't find any open bars."

"Four." Rude adds, a faint nostalgic smile creeping onto his face despite his efforts to suppress it. The more observant members of Avalanche notice this, much to their surprise.

"Right. So we were outa bars and some smart bastard gets a bright idea. We 'borrow' a few barrels of Sake from the officers club on base and haul the shit down to the beach. Drank till we all passed out, then we kicked the MPs asses again when the bastards woke us up in the morning bitching about damages and their precious shitty regulations. Fuck that shit. We all lost two months pay, but it was fucking worth it. Dumbass MPs wanted to throw us all in the damn stockade, but we all had vital as shit missions coming up, so there wasn't shit they could do other than pointless fucking fines."

"Couldn't you just drink without destroying bars?" Tifa asks, feeling sympathetic for the bartenders.

"Life expectancies were very short in our lines of work. When we blew off steam we did it hard." Rude explains, professional poker face firmly back in place.

"He ain't fucking exaggerating. Out of the twenty of us that started that brawl, Me, Baldy, and Red were the only bastards lucky enough to make it through the fucking pointless war in one piece."

"Shit, the others all died? That's messed up! Fucking Shin-Ra, using up their own people jus' like they use the planet!" Barret exclaims.

"They didn't all die." Rude says.

"No, but the poor bastards that got sent home crippled probably wished they'd been fucking killed. Buncha them eventually offed themselves. Anyways, I haven't brawled since the fucking war and haven't touched a damned drop of alcohol in over a year now."

"Good job quitting. So, Shera couldn't get you to give up smoking while she was at it? It'd be good for you." Tifa says.

"Shit, it's like I told her. A man's gotta have some bad habits. I'll drop one for her, but I ain't fucking dropping all a them."

"As fun as it's been reminiscing, we need to get moving." Rude announces before leading the way towards the base's entrance.

"Right, let's mosey!" Cloud announces in a dramatic voice, prompting snickers from several of his teammates. Rude manages to suppress the urge to do the same, yet a corner of his mouth curls up a fraction of an inch. "What's so funny?"

"Why you always gotta say it so damn wimpy sounding? Say something cool, like 'move out'." Cid demands with his usual tactfulness.

"Alright, move out?" Cloud tries. Rude rolls his eyes behind his shades as several Avalanche members chuckle.

Shortly after entering the base, a Shin-Ra army officer intercepts the group and walks up to Cid. "Excuse me sir, you can't smoke in here."

"Shit, come on, I won't be in here long."

"Sorry, base policy. You need to put that out."

Cid looks like he's about to put his cigarette out when Rude speaks up. "The surprises never stop. Looks like Howling Mad Highwind's finally mellowed out..."

"Mellow? Who's fucking mellow? Fuck you!" After saying that, Cid stubs out his cigarette in the center of the Shin-Ra officer's forehead, then strikes a match off the officer's face and relights his cigarette. "There, I fucking put it out! Happy? Want me to put it out again?" His teammates look shocked by his outburst, with the exception of Vincent, who's expression plainly says he finds Cid's actions about as shocking as watching paint dry. The officer runs off with an undignified squeak. "What the hell're you looking at?" he asks his teammates before continuing to walk down the hall toward the base's cafeteria, intent on finding tea.

"Crazy fool." Barret mutters. "What's this Howling Mad shit?"

"He earned that nickname during the war." Rude explains.

"It certainly fits him." Tifa comments. "So, do you have a war nickname too?" she asks, deciding that it couldn't hurt to at least be nice to two of the new members of her team, since they hadn't been responsible for destroying her new home, unlike their leader.

"Yeah, Rude."

"But, that doesn't fit."

Rude allows a small smile to briefly slip onto his face and directs it towards Tifa. "Yeah, that's the joke behind it."

She chuckles a little. "Oh, I see. Like calling a big guy Tiny."

"Exactly."

"So what's your real name?"

He hesitates for a moment, due to not liking his real name. Both of his teammates had advised him to be open, so he decides to start by being open about something small. "Rudolph."

"Rudolph?" Barret breaks out laughing at this.

"At least my middle name's not Cornelius." he retorts, causing Barrret to stop laughing and most of his teammates to start.

"How'd you know that?"

"It's in your file."

"Damned Shin-Ra, spying on everyone..." Barret mutters, putting some distance between himself and the bald Turk.

Tifa giggles. "I suppose this means you know my middle name too?"

"Yes, but I doubt anyone would laugh at it. Odessa's a good name."

"You think so? I always thought it was too old-fashioned sounding."

Rude recalls some of Elena's parting advice, given on the landing strip before walking into the women's locker room arm-in-arm with Reno, 'Remember to ask about things she's interested in. Show her you're interested and learn more about her at the same time.'

"Any plans for after this's all over?"

_I didn't think he'd be the type to make small talk_. "Not really. I'd like to run another bar someday, or maybe a restaurant. What I'd really like to do is run a dojo, but it's hard to make a living in that business."

"That'd be fitting, Zangan's finest disciple passing on his legacy."

"Thanks. That reminds me. I've noticed you use a few of my style's moves in battle. Where'd you learn those?"

"I picked them up during the war. I had two good friends who were students of Zangan."

"Had?"

"Yeah. The lucky one was hit by a sniper. Headshot, he never felt a thing."

"That's lucky?"

"The other stepped on a landmine and lost both her legs. When Reno and I came to visit her at the field hospital she was in, we found that she'd broken her own neck. Apparently she decided she didn't want to live like that."

"That's... That's horrible!"

"Yes. Unfortunately, horrible things were pretty common back then..."

"Oh. Sorry to bring it up." _No wonder Cid and those two are a little odd, after living through things like that..._

"It's alright. That was a long time ago." Rude decides changing the subject to something more positive would be a good idea. "Have you thought of running a bar for just enough days a week to make a living and teaching the rest of the week? That way profit from one could float the other."

"Hey, that might work. Thanks." _I definitely didn't expect to get business advice here. This guy's pretty sharp. And I always assumed he was just the dumb muscle of his group_.

Farther down the hall, Cid kicks open the door to the cafeteria and bellows, "I want some fucking tea!" before storming into the room. The others follow at a distance.


	14. Victoria Vel Nex

"Well, you've heard my plan." Tifa states, waiting outside the cafeteria. "What about you? Any plans for after Meteor?" In her peripheral vision, she sees Cid, Yuffie, and Nanaki raiding the cafeteria while the rest of her team waits outside.

"Yes. The first thing we plan to do, aside from quitting what's left of Shin-Ra, is to fly down to where the Temple of the Ancients used to be and have a memorial ceremony for Tseng. We… never had time to properly mourn him. We've had too much work to do since his death." Rude replied.

"He was really important to you, huh?" she asked.

"He was a good friend, a mentor, and sometimes a confidant as well to all three of us. After the war, he helped Reno and I re-adjust to... normal society."

"I've heard some stories about vets having troubles after the war, was it really that bad?" she asks.

"People say the slums are like a war zone, but it's just a figure of speech. Living in an actual war zone is... hard to describe. Coming back to Midgar was like coming to a different world. For example, for several years after the war, you could easily spot the vets who had been through heavy combat. We were the ones who dove for cover whenever a car backfired, or any other sudden, loud noise was made. Many small things like that added up and separated us from the 'normal' people. And then there were the memories. Sometimes they came back so strong we thought we were back in the war. Thankfully, neither of us have had that problem for years."

Barret says, "I knew a few vets in Corel who had that problem. They'd be fine one minute, then they'd start seeing shit from the war. They was digging foxholes all over town for a while."

"Yes, that was a common reaction. There weren't many places in Midgar where you could dig, though. Tseng helped us get over that habit before we ruined too many knives trying to dig through sidewalks and office floors."

Tifa asks, "If he meant that much to you, why couldn't you take some time off? It can't be healthy, waiting this long to let go."

"It's not, but it's hardly the first unhealthy thing I've had to do because of my job. If we have time after the memorial, we plan to fly to the plains northwest of Gongaga. We should have the best odds of surviving Meteor's impact there, although they'll still be slim."

"Wait, you mean you don't think Holy'll work?" she asks.

Cloud proclaims, "How could you doubt it? Aeris prayed for Holy, so Holy'll save us." with adoration for the dead Cetra shining in his eyes.

"My... profession doesn't exactly engender optimism... All three of us expect to be dead in less than a week." Rude calmly states.

"But... Then what're you fighting for?" Tifa asks with surprise and confusion on her face.

"Tseng's memory." Standing in the back of the group, Vincent silently nods his approval, although no one notices.

"I understand," Cloud announces, "because I'm fighting for Aeris's memory."

"I see she was important to you." Rude observes.

"She's everything to me and always will be." Cloud proclaims, oblivious to the hurt look that briefly flashes across Tifa's face. Rude notices, however, and feels a wrenching sensation at the sight that causes him to clench his jaw muscles and be thankful for his sunglasses.

"Sorry for bringing it up. I know it's a painful situation..." Rude says in an apologetic tone. This confuses Cloud, but Tifa notices that Rude's looking directly at her as he says this and realizes that he'd noticed her change of expression and somehow knew what it meant and was apologizing to her. Before she or Cloud can respond, he says, "Looks like they're finished." with a nod towards Cid and company, who're returning from their raid on the cafeteria. "Let's go." He then begins to lead the way towards the briefing room.

"How can you be so calm when you think you're walking to your death?" Tifa asks.

"Experience. I grew up a street kid in the slums and went straight to the war when Shin-Ra recruited me. Most of my life's been spent one small mistake away from death. It's the same for Reno and Elena. It also helps that there's a chance we'll live. If that happens, we plan to go into business together as freelance consultants."

"You mean mercenaries?" Cloud asks.

"You could phrase it like that..."

"More like freelance assassins, I'd bet." Barret states.

"No." Rude denies. "The three of us agreed that we won't accept that type of job."

"Shit, you tryin' to claim you lost your taste for it or sumpthin?" Barret asks.

Rude states, "None of us had a taste for it in the first place. No sane person enjoys killing. The company has always found sane people easier to control."

"Hey baldy, why the hell you being so fucking talkative? I can count on one goddamn hand how many times you got chatty back in the fucking war."

"Usually there's nothing worth talking about, or actions can speak more efficiently than words." he replies. "We're here. Remember, if Holy doesn't work, the plains northwest of Gongaga are the best place to be." he says while looking directly at Tifa. Rude then confuses the members of Avalanche when he knocks loudly on the briefing room door and waits several seconds before opening it. He then sighs and mutters, "Oblivious..." before walking into the room and clearing his throat loudly.

The reasons for his actions become clear to the members of Avalanche when they follow him into the room and spot Reno sitting in a chair to one side of the room with Elena sitting sideways on his lap. Both have their eyes closed, their lips locked together, and their hands busy exploring one another's bodies, often reaching inside each other's uniforms. Rude loudly clears his throat again, but the amorous duo once again fails to notice him.

Cid takes a deep breath and bellows, "Get a fucking room!" This gets their attention and the pair jump a little before reflexively drawing pistols and pointing them at the source of the noise. When they notice that they have an audience, Elena blushes deeply and Reno looks annoyed.

"Shit, don't you know how to knock?" he asks while the pair re-holster their sidearms.

"I did. Loudly." Rude informs him. An amused smile crosses his face. "I can't leave you two alone for a minute, can I?"

Reno laughs. "No, and you shoulda known better than expecting any different." He then slips a hand under Elena's legs and smoothly stands while still holding her, then plants a quick kiss on her still-blushing face before gently setting her down on the chair he'd been sitting in. "Why'd you think I sent you to be the welcoming committee?" he asks with a crooked grin. He then turns his attention to Avalanche. "I'm surprised you all showed up."

He waves to a table covered with liquor bottles and stacks of pizza boxes, plastic cups, and paper plates. "Grab some grub, sit down, shut up, and I'll explain my plan." He notices that several Avalanche members hesitate to head towards the food. "What, don't trust me? It's not poisoned. If I wanted to kill you, I'd've shot you when you came in the door."

"How do we know you won't use us for cannon fodder?" Tifa asks with a suspicious look on her face.

"Cause that wouldn't be professional. As leader, part of my job's to bring as many of you back alive as I can. That's no guarantee you'll make it back, but hey, I'll be leading the most dangerous part personally. Now, if your personal feelings're gonna get in the mission's way, get the hell out. That goes for all of you."

"I'll do what it takes to defeat Sephiroth and avenge my father." she replies. "Even if it means following your orders. But don't expect me to forgive you just because we're on the same team."

"You shouldn't." he replies calmly. He looks down at his open left hand. "There's a hell of a lot of blood on my hands. Too damned much for anyone to forgive me." He clenches his hand into a fist. "But that's not the point. I'm not here for absolution and I'm sure as hell not expecting to be redeemed or anything. I don't buy into all that karma bullshit where you can do some good deeds and wipe the slate clean. None of that shit matters, I'm just here to get this one last job done and hopefully get a little more quality time with the woman I love before I die."

"Also, he tried to talk the President into an alternate plan that would've actually worked." Rude adds.

"Well, yeah, but that didn't do any good. All I could get out of him was letting me wait until I'd actually seen all the targets in the area before dropping the plate."

"Wait, you mean if we hadn't showed up-" Barret begins to ask.

Reno interrupts, "Old Man Shin-Ra probably would've gotten tired of waiting and ordered it dropped anyway. Now let's get this shit over with." He walks over to the table with the food and pours some Gin in a cup while he begins to explain his plan. "This'll be a straight up, high-speed Zippo run, just like the old days. It'll be three elements with sf-mod slicks and weasels. Now here's the COC. Obviously, I'm the CO and Rude's the XO-" he cuts off when he turns from adding Tonic Water to his Gin and notices that every Avalanche member except Cloud, Cid, and Vincent has a confused look on their face. "Shit, forgot most've you haven't got any military background. So much for getting this shit over with quickly. Hell, I fucking hate speeches." he complains while stirring his drink.

He lights a cigarette, then takes a slow sip of his drink while revising the briefing in his head and decides to start off differently. "Alright, let's try this again. If I get over your heads again, tell me so I'll clarify shit. Now, back in the war we had this little saying, 'victoria vel nex'. It means 'victory or death'. The brass thought it was a fun little slogan, but to Turks and some of the other elites, that was how we lived. See, those were the only ways we'd get out of there, win the war or go home in a bodybag. Follow me into that crater and you'll be walking into the same type of situation, with only two ways out. If you're not alright with that, leave now." No one gets up from their seat.

"I thought that meant 'death or glory'." Cloud states.

"No, that's 'nex vel palma'." Rude says.

"Yeah, that was Soldier's bullshit." Reno adds.

"What do you mean, bullshit?" Avalanche's leader asks.

"The whole 'glory' thing's a bunch of bullshit recruiters used to pull in dumb kids. Pros don't give a damn about glory, they just get the job done." the redhead clarifies.

"What? That can't be right!" Cloud denies, having believed the Shin-Ra recruiter.

Reno laughs for a moment. "Still gullible, huh? Look, I spent five years in the war and two years hunting down guerrillas after the surrender and I never saw anything that looked like glory. How bout you, Rude?" Rude shakes his head. "Cid?"

"Fuck no!"

"What about the second battle of Goblin Island?" Cloud asks. "I saw the documentary, and it looked glorious. It was victory against overwhelming odds."

Reno rolls his eyes. "That piece of propaganda's about as accurate as the commercials the company used to run about how clean and safe mako energy is. They may've had more troops, but we had a better position and better air support."

"But they said the movie had actual footage of the battle." he says, clinging to the reasons behind one of the biggest decisions he'd ever made.

"They lied."

"How do you know?" he asks, not trusting Reno.

"I was there." the lanky redhead answers. "There was a big supply drop on the third night that included reinforcements, three Turk sniper teams and a regiment of Soldier airbornes. It was Wutai's last big counteroffensive, an end run straight towards Midgar. Orders were to hold them there or die trying. Flak was pretty damned thick, one of the snipers and about a quarter of the regiment didn't even make it to the ground. Shot out of the sky without a chance to fight back, pretty glorious, huh?"

He takes a long drag from his cigarette before continuing, gripped by the old memories. "Me and Rude were one team, and another was a couple damned good friends of ours. The four of us were only a little older than her," he points to Yuffie, "but me an' Rude'd already been in the war for two years. We'd seen plenty of death before, but never on that scale. Both sides dug trenches and were kinda grinding away at each other, dropping in fresh troops every couple weeks. The smell hit me when I was still hanging from my chute, a couple hundred feet up. Thousands of bodies, rotting in the sun. A smell like that sticks with you, you never forget it. Maybe that's what glory's supposed to smell like." he says with a faint expression of disgust on his face from the remembered odor.

"Shit, ain't you got any respect for the dead? Why didn't you bury them?" Barret asks.

"Cause we were too damned busy dealing with the living to worry about the dead. Things were bad enough we had to put the wounded back on the line to fight. No way in hell we could spare anyone for burial detail." He pauses for a sip of gin & tonic. "At night, the goblins came out and we could hear them feeding on the dead. Every now and then, they'd find some poor bastard who wasn't dead yet, but they'd eat them just the same and we'd all hear them screaming. Between that and the night attacks, no one got much sleep. I spent over a month in that hell, about half of it in charge after all the higher ranking officers got killed, and I never saw anything like glory. Lot a the Soldier-boys jumped in looking for glory. The ones that survived their first day forgot all about that shit. So, you expecting to find glory in that crater or something, Spike?"

"No, I'm going for revenge." Cloud answers, now having a new reason for hating Shin-Ra.

"Good motive. Now, like I was saying earlier, we'll be relying heavily on speed for this mission. We'll be going in three teams, here's the chain of command..."

"What's a chain of command?" Yuffie asks.

"It's the chain I'll beat you with to let you know who's in fucking command." Reno jokes. His partners and Cid chuckle, but no one else reacts. "Damn, don't any of you chumps have a sense of humor? Chain of command's who's in charge of who. First team's the assault team. That's us three. If either of them give any of you an order down there, obey it like it's an order from me. Next team's the reserve. It'll be Valentine, Lockheart, and Strife. Spike's in charge. The rest of you report to Highwind. You're the security team. Other'n the team leaders, use your normal pecking order."

"Why's the security team so big?" Cloud asks.

"I was getting to that. When we get to the crater, the Highwind'll drop napalm, hopefully clearing out a lot of the shit living in there. After the drop, we'll fly in on three slicks, small choppers we used for commando missions back in the war. Assault and reserve's slicks've been modified to carry a weasel scout car. We fly as far as we can into the crater, then land. Weasels only carry three, so that's why there's so many of you in security. Assault and reserve'll drive as far as they can while security protects the choppers."

"We've got a map, and all the vehicles've been fitted with special sensors, so finding Sephiroth shouldn't be a problem. When we get to him, assault'll go kill him while reserve guards our ride back to the LZ. If he gets lucky and manages to snuff my team, it'll be reserve's job to step in and finish him. If both teams snuff it, security gets to hike in and take a shot at him." He picks up a box from a table and begins handing out small radios with headsets. "These're simple, press this button to talk, let go to listen. Frequencys're set so you just talk with your teammates. Team leaders, your's have a setting to talk to the other leaders. This button here switches which frequency you transmit on, they're set to receive both." He then picks up another box and begins to pass around small pill bottles, giving everyone two different types.

"What're these?" Tifa asks.

"The ones in the white bottles're a type of amphetamine the company made for long missions where you don't have time to sleep. There's enough in each bottle to keep you awake from when we hit the crater till meteor hits. Just don't use them unless you need them. These aren't nearly as addictive as the type the company used to issue, but you crash pretty damned hard when you come down from these."

"You really expect us to start popping pills?" Tifa asks, looking disgusted.

"Hey, it beats getting killed in your sleep. We probably won't need them anyways, they're just in case the mission takes longer than planned. The other type I gave you, we call them corks. One pill'll keep you from shitting for a day, cause we won't have time for that either. That's it for the briefing. Any questions?"

"That's it?" Barret asks. "That's your big plan? I was expecting more."

"Well, let's hear yours. I'm sure it'll be much better since you spent less than a year leading a small rebel group and I only had training in military tactics and years of experience leading troops in an actual war." Reno remarks with sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Shit changes soon as you run into the enemy, so simple plans that're easily adapted to changing shit're best. Any other questions?" He waits a moment. "Good. It'll take maintenance a couple hours to modify the Highwind-"

"What?" Cid interrupts. "The hell're you fuckers doing to my motherfucking ship? If you shitheads fuck it up, I'll fucking rip your goddamned heads off and shit down the fucking stumps! Fuck!" he bellows with typical Highwind tact.

"Heh, easy. Nothing's getting fucked up you can't unfuck later. All they're doing's adding hardpoints and wiring for the napalm and racks for the two modified slicks. Now sit down, shut up, and drink your... What the fuck're you drinking?"

"It's my goddamned tea, motherfucker, The fuck's it look like?"

"What the -..." Reno mutters, shocked.

"He's gone AA on us." Rude helpfully informs Reno.

"Damn, never thought I'd see the day that'd happen... Well, like I was saying before the fucking howling mad tea swiller interrupted me, we're gonna have a couple hours downtime. So relax, eat some pizza or something. Just don't wander too far, if I can't find you when it's time to go you'll get left behind. If you've got any more questions, one of us might answer." The briefing over, most of the people in the room stand and help themselves to more food and drinks.

"Hah, you got shorter!" Yuffie blurts out when she notices Elena's traded in her normal high-heeled dress shoes for hiking boots, which would be better suited to climbing around inside a large crater.

"I'm still taller than you, pipsqueak." she retorts.

"Baka no gaijin!" Yuffie taunts, then sticks her tongue out.

Reno steps in and says, "Ojosama, zakennayo!"

Yuffie looks more surprised than insulted. "How'd you learn to say that?"

"Easy, I'm a cunning linguist." the redhead answers with his trademark smirk.

"Be careful with that joke, boss, it's an antique." Rude dryly advises. Reno responds by raising his middle finger in his best friend's direction. Rude smoothly retorts by saying, "Hey, man, I'm flattered, but I just don't feel that way about you." causing Reno to roll his eyes.

"Omygawd, did big, bald, and scary just make a joke?" the kleptomaniac ninja asks.

"Of course not." Reno says, still smirking. "Everyone knows big, bald, and scary doesn't have a sense of humor, so there's no way he just made two jokes in a row. You're hallucinating." Rude responds to this veiled insult by nailing Reno in the side of the head with a crumpled plastic cup. "That must've been a hallucination too." He feels something warm impact his head after saying this and reaches up, discovering a piece of pizza stuck to the side of his head. "Hell, it's on now!" he declares with a grin before hurling the slice back in Rude's direction.

Rude dodges by dropping into a quick backwards roll under the table loaded with pizzas. He then stands on the far side, reaches into an open box, and begins a barrage of pizza slices in Reno's direction. Their audience looks very surprised, with the exceptions of Vincent, who looks vaguely bored, and Elena, who's seen and participated in enough impromptu food fights with her fellow Turks that she simply watches with an amused smile. Reno, not having a ready ammo supply, resorts to catching and throwing back the slices Rude hurls at him.

Unfortunately, pizza isn't the most aerodynamic projectile, and one of Reno's errant slices ends it's flight splatting against Elena's chest. This turns her amused expression into an annoyed one and prompts an unspoken cease-fire. "Shit, sorry, babe! Um, he started it..."

"You just ruined another of my ties, Reno." she says while walking towards him.

"Hey, you would've gotten Sephiroth's blood on it anyways." he says while reaching out and brushing pizza bits off of her.

"True..." she says while taking his hand. She then quickly twists his wrist, pulling him forward and bringing his arm behind his back. Additional pressure, drops him to one knee. "But that's no reason to let you off easy." She then reaches under his jacket and begins to prod him in his ribs.

"Hey... don't... Lena..." he gasps out between laughs while she tickles him. "Rude... a little help here?"

"You got yourself into it..." Rude answers.

After squirming for a few moments, Reno manages to reverse the hold and gains a measure of revenge, holding Elena down and tickling her. Moments later, she slips out and throws him, bouncing him off a nearby wall before resuming tickling him.

Rude notices shocked expressions on most of the Avalanche members and says, "Don't worry, this is normal for those two." He then watches with amusement while the odd hybrid of a tickle fight and a wrestling match continues, accompanied by the sounds of Reno and Elena laughing and occasional crashes and thumps.


	15. Clarification

The tickle fight finally comes to a halt when Elena is forced onto her back and she wraps all four limbs around Reno, pulling him into the aptly named guillotine choke. "Hey, free spinal adjustment." he jokes, wriggling around in an attempt to escape. After seeing that she has the choke on too firmly for him to slip loose, he relaxes. "Sneaky move. I ever tell you what a devious woman you are, Lena?"

"Flattery won't get you out of this," she purrs, "but don't stop trying."

"Did I mention how beautiful you are?" he tries. "And I love that thing you do with your toun-" he chokes off as she momentarily tightens the hold.

"We're not alone here, remember?"

"All the more reason to brag about how lucky I am."

"Heh, you're incorrigible."

"Hey, that's why you love me, right?"

"Well, that's one of the reasons." She releases her grip, allowing him to climb to his feet.

He then reaches down and helps her stand, stealing a quick kiss as he does so. "The hell're you all staring at?" he asks when he notices that most of the members of Avalanche are looking at him as if he'd grown a second head.

"Shit, what the hell were you doing?" Barret demands.

"It's called fun. You've heard of that concept, right?" the smirking redhead sarcastically asks while wiping pizza out of his hair with a piece of damp paper towel.

"Damn smartass." Barret accuses after fuming for a moment.

"That I am." Reno calmly replies with a wider smirk while mixing Vermouth and Vodka in a cup.

"Hey," Cloud says, "you got me curious. What's that plan you wanted to use instead of dropping Sector Seven?"

"Simple. I'd've climbed up into the plate's understructure above her bar with my best sniper rifle and six rounds of ammo. Rude would've brought his spotting scope. Six easy shots, minimal effort, and no collateral damage. But the old man wanted something more flashy to make the company's search & rescue division look good and give him an excuse to restart that Neo-Midgar bullshit."

"That'd be a hell of a shot." Barret observes.

"Nah, I made tougher shots back in the war."

"What, you claiming to be Shin-Ra's best shooter or sumpthin'?"

"No, just the best looking."

* * *

"You've got some nice moves." Tifa compliments Elena on the other side of the room.

"Thanks." she replies after swallowing a mouthful of pizza.

"How do you stay so skinny eating like that?" she asks, sitting down next to Elena and pouring herself some Crème de Cacao.

"Mako enhancement." Tifa chuckles at this. "Seriously. A faster metabolism's one of the side-effects. Took me forever to get used to it and get Reno to quit making anorexia jokes." she says with a smile.

"What do you see in that guy, anyway?"

"Oh, it's complicated. I guess the main thing's we really understand and trust each other. We've spent hours just talking, sharing basically everything with each other."

"But what about all the things he's done? All the people he's killed?"

"He had his reasons. And you can't expect to make a serious relationship work if you won't accept the bad with the good in someone. Besides, my hands aren't clean either, so I can't go judging him."

"You can't have done that much, you haven't been a Turk long."

"I never kept track, but I'd already killed a lot of people before the company hired me. The first was when I was eleven, some wanna-be rapist who looked at least three times my age. I managed to save myself by sticking him in the side of the neck with a shiv I'd made by grinding an old spoon against the pavement until it was sharp." Tifa looks shocked at this revelation. "Yeah, that's pretty young, but street kids in the slums don't live long unless they learn to protect themselves. Usually I killed for survival and a few times I did it for revenge, either way I ended up with a lot of blood on my hands."

"I'd heard street kids had it rough, but I didn't think it as that bad. Weren't there any orphanages you could've stayed in?"

"I've heard they're different now, but back when the three of us were kids, all orphanages did was concentrate easy victims in a small area and leave them unprotected. Like a buffet for the worst scum in the slums. And that's another thing I see in him, the two of us survived a lot of the same things growing up and we escaped that hell when the company hired us. It was the same for Rude, too."

Tifa looks thoughtful. "I never thought of Shin-Ra like that."

"Yeah, it's like a strange love-hate relationship. This job's forced us to do all kinds of horrible things and turned us into heavy drinkers, but it also got us off the street and introduced us to the best friends we've ever had. Hanging out with the guys, I learned how to trust people again and even fell in love, so, overall I think it's worth all the pain this job's put me through."

"But what about Sector Seven?"

Elena lowers her voice and confides, "He'd probably never admit it to you, but that's one of his biggest regrets."

"He doesn't look very regretful." Tifa says, looking skeptical.

"Yeah, but how many guys do you know who don't try the 'hey, look at me, I don't feel pain' macho bullshit?" Tifa nods after taking a moment to think about her traveling companions. "He's opened up to me, and trust me, he regrets dropping the plate. You just have to get past his front to see it." Seeing that Tifa still looks unconvinced, Elena leans forward and whispers in her ear, "Don't tell anyone, but he actually tried to kill himself twice after that mission before coming to terms with what he'd done. Remember us mentioning that I got promoted because we were short-handed while he recovered from injuries he'd picked up on the Sector Seven mission? His injuries weren't all physical."

Tifa looks at the smug redhead, currently apparently engaged in a cursing contest with Cid on the other end of the room, and tries to wrap her mind around the idea of him being remorseful. "You've got to be kidding. He doesn't look like the type for that."

"He might not, but he's more complicated than he looks. And at least he notices my feelings, unlike a certain someone here. What do you see in that guy?"

"Er... What do you mean?"

"Hey, everyone's seen how you've been looking at Strife."

Tifa blushes. "It's that obvious?"

"Yeah. Sorry I've gotta be the one to break it to you, but just seeing you two together for a few minutes makes it obvious."

Tifa looks down into her drink, embarrassed. "You probably think I'm pretty dumb for hoping..."

"No, I think you're frustrated and hurting, not dumb. See, I've been there. I had a huge crush on Tseng and he ignored me for months." Elena interrupts, deciding not to mention how he'd come around toward the end.

"Really?" Tifa looks up and her blush begins to fade.

"Yeah, it's the most frustrating thing I've ever been through. I was purposely making it obvious to make sure he'd notice, and he just kept ignoring all the hints I dropped. The guys noticed and tried to help without letting on that they knew. Heh, Reno's suggestion was to go get plastered and find a one night stand. I thought he was just being an ass, but I found out later he meant well. He was just suggesting the way he copes with heartache."

"Whatcha talking about?" Yuffie interrupts.

"Boys." Elena answers. Tifa looks slightly embarrassed again and Yuffie giggles. "So, how long's he been ignoring you?"

"She's been mooning over Cloud as long as I've known them." Yuffie announces while grabbing a slice of pizza. "That's almost a year and that jerk hasn't done anything about it." she says while sitting in a chair next to Tifa.

"Yuffie, you knew too?"

"Yep!"

"It's been almost a year and a half since he showed up in the slums." Tifa says in a quiet voice.

"Even a complete idiot would've noticed by now. There's no way he doesn't know how you feel, but he keeps playing dumb. What's that tell you?" Elena asks. As her words sink in, Tifa crumples the cup in her hand, but fails to notice the spilled chocolate liquor running down her shaking arm. "Hey, easy there." Elena says, looking concerned and placing a hand on Tifa's shoulder. Yuffie does the same from the other side. "You've wasted enough time on that guy, don't go wasting your tears on him too."

"It can't be..."

"Why don't you ask him? You don't want to face the end of the world not knowing."

"I'll go get him!" Yuffie volunteers before jumping up and dashing in Cloud's direction.

"Um... Where's the restroom?"

"Don't go chickening out. You need to find out so you'll stop torturing yourself. Run away and I'll just cast stop on you."

* * *

"Hey Reno, want me to read your fortune?" Cait Sith offers.

"You bored or something, Reeve?" Reno asks.

"Dad's not here. He took off after you finished your speech." Cait closes his eyes for a moment. "He's working on the evacuation again."

"The hell's that Shin-Ra spy going on about now? The hell's he mean by 'dad'?"

"That's what Cait calls Reeve, cause he built him."

"What?" Cloud asks, confused. "You mean that's not Reeve there?"

"You really think one of the company's top execs could watch you 24-7? When he's damn-near working himself to death trying to evacuate everyone? Cait's an AI, Reeve steps in sometimes, but it's usually just Cait there."

"The fuck're you babbling about, shithead? What the hells a fucking ay eye?"

"The way I understand, Reeve made a person's mind in a computer and put it in a robot cat body. I don't know the specifics, but it works. So, what's my fortune, furball?"

"It's that you'll receive a large electric shock if you call me furball again." Reno laughs at this.

"Looks like Reeve was right about you being a bad influence on him." Rude observes with a faint smile.

"All right, this time it's for real!" Cait proclaims with an exaggerated smile on his animatronic features before launching into his fortune-telling dance. He finishes and retrieves a slip of paper from the robot Moogle's mouth. "You're heading in the right direction. Things aren't as bleak as you think, you can still claim a happy future."

"Kinda a roundabout way of saying it, little guy, but I think I know what you're saying. I'm still not convinced Holy'll work, but thanks for trying."

"Hey, you!" Yuffie interjects, walking over to Cloud. "Teef needs to talk with you, now!"

"Hey, wait a- Ouch!"

"No excuses! Get your butt moving!" Yuffie demands while dragging him away with a wristlock. Several pairs of shocked eyed follow their progress.

"What the hell just happened?" Barret wonders.

"Poor bastard's getting dragged into a lioness' den." Reno muses. "Heh, something tells me he'll need a stiff drink when those three're done with him. Now shut up so we can eavesdrop."

* * *

"Got him!" Yuffie proclaims.

"Nice work. Well, you gonna ask him? Think of it like lancing an infection, doing it might hurt, but you'll feel better afterwards."

"Um... Cloud... do you... like me?" Tifa forces out while staring at the ground.

"Er... Yeah, you're a great friend." he answers, intently looking at his combat boots.

"Stop playing dumb, that's not what she asked." Elena says, glaring at Cloud.

"I... don't know what you mean." he stammers, looking nervous. "Ouch!" he exclaims when Yuffie smacks him across the back of the head.

"Jerk! Stop leading her on and answer the question!"

"Try to dodge the question again and I'll hit you next time." Elena threatens, slipping on a pair of brass knuckles. "I'll make it easy for you. You're only interested in being friends with her, right?"

"Yes..."

"Why the hell didn't you tell her sooner?"

"I didn't want to hurt her..."

"Baka!"

"Dumbass, dragging it out just hurt her worse."

"I... Sorry, Tifa. Can you forgive me?"

"...eventually. We've been friends too long to hold a grudge for long. I don't really feel like thinking about it right now, though..."

"Alright, we're done with you." Elena announces. Yuffie releases his right hand from where she'd been twisting it behind his back and he hastily retreats to the other end of the room. "Well, you finally know the truth."

"Yeah..." Tifa murmurs, looking like she's on the verge of tears. "I guess the old saying's true, the truth hurts. But I had to know... You were right about asking being the hardest part. Thanks, both of you."

"I really hate seeing people in that situation after going through that unrequited shit myself, so don't worry about it. Hey, cheer up, we'll find you a new guy." Elena reassures her.

"Yeah, it'll be fun." Yuffie says. "Forget about that jerk, you deserve someone who'll make you happy."

"What type do you like?"

"C'mon, tell us."

* * *

"Congratulations, you're still alive." Reno says with a smirk while holding out a bottle of Vodka as Cloud approaches. Cloud wordlessly grabs the bottle and takes a swig. "Hah, I knew he'd want the booze. Shoulda let her down easy when you had the chance."

"Can we talk about something else?" Cloud asks before taking another swig of Vodka.

Reno laughs. "Sure. Hey, Cait, mind doing me a favor? Put those fancy sensors Reeve gave you to use and tell me where my chip is."

"Chip?" Cloud asks.

"Yeah, we've got tracking chips like rich folks put in their pet dogs. Only these are made of stuff that won't show up on X-rays. The company kept us away from the type of equipment that can detect them so we couldn't mess with them. Now that I've finally got the chance, I wanna get rid of mine."

"Hold on a second." Cait says, then he and his moogle begin waving their arms around like a pair of cheesy stage magicians. "Geeze, ya got enough scar tissue for a regiment."

"Heh, I'm not exactly in the world's safest job."

"You've got a lot of metal in you too. This'll take a while to sort through. Plenty of pins, screws, and plates, you musta broken a buncha bones back before materia started getting issued." Reno nods. "Lotta shrapnel and bullets in you, too. Hey, this is weird, you've got a piece of steel in your right radius that looks like the tip of a knife."

"Yeah, that's from back when I was a kid. Got stabbed and the tip broke off in the bone."

"Hey, I found it!" Cait does his victory dance. "It's in your right hand, right near the center in between the bones." Reno holds his hand out and Cait points out the exact spot.

"Heh, it'll be easy. Thanks." Reno sits down at the nearest table, then pulls his long, stiletto-like commando knife from his right sleeve and jabs the tip into the back of his hand.

"What the hell are you doing?" Elena yells from across the room when she spots him cutting himself.

"Taking my chip out." he answers around gritted teeth, ignoring the shocked looks everyone except Rude and Vincent is directing his way as he slides the literally razor-sharp blade through his flesh.

"Your what?" Tifa asks. Elena quickly explains what the chip is while Reno probes the inside of his hand in search of it. "Shouldn't you have a doctor do that?"

"No time. And If I'm gonna die up north, I'd like to at least die without this damned leash on. Hey, think I found it." Cait confirms that it's the chip. "Anyone got some needle nose pliers I can borrow?"

Elena pulls a folding multi-tool from a pocket and opens it, revealing a small pair of pliers. "Alright, hold still." she instructs before sliding the tips of the pliers into the cut and grasping the small object the tip of Reno's knife rests against. "Hey, now, I've seen you wince less than that from getting shot." she says in a soft voice as he withdraws his knife.

"Yeah, adrenaline's good for that..." he groans.

"Well, how about a distraction?" she offers before leaning foreword and kissing him. She then yanks the chip out, causing him to emit a muffled grunt.

"Best bedside manner ever." he jokes after she pulls back. He reaches into a pocket and the soft green glow of a healing spell surrounds him. In a moment, the only signs remaining of his self-administered surgery are some blood, the chip, and a faint line on the back of his hand that's only visible to those with mako enhanced vision or a magnifying glass. He reaches out and takes the pliers from Elena, then squeezes, crushing the chip. "I've carried that thing around for almost a decade. Feels good to finally get rid of it."

"I want mine out, too." Elena announces.

"You sure?" he asks. She nods and Cait begins the scanning process.

"You've got more scar tissue than I expected. Odd, you haven't been a Turk for long." the mechanical cat announces.

"I kinda had a rough childhood." she explains.

"Sorry to bring it up. Your's is in exactly the same spot as his."

"Well, you're probably not going to be able to get it out yourself, since it's in your good hand." Reno states. Elena nods and holds her hand out to him. "I wish there was a way to do this painlessly, but we haven't got any local anesthetic. I'll do it quick." he promises while taking her right hand in his.

Knowing precisely where to look this time, he cuts into her hand and finds the chip within moments and she only winces a little. "Guess it's my turn to be the distraction." he says while sliding the pliers into the cut. He then distracts her with a kiss while extracting the chip, then casts a quick healing spell on her and crushes the chip. "Heh, you barely flinched. Way to make me look like a wuss." he jokes with a crooked grin.

"You were probably just playing it up for sympathy." she teases.

"Guess I'm next..." Rude states. Cait begins the scanning process for the third time.

"Wow, you're just as bad as Reno. Scars, pins, shrapnel, and stuff everywhere. Hey, you know you've got an arrowhead between two of your ribs?"

"Yeah, it's been stuck there for years. No way to get it out without breaking the bones..."

"Well, your chip's in the same spot as the others." Rude places his hand flat on the table in front of Reno, who quickly cuts to the chip. Rude's jaw muscles tighten visibly, but he shows no other visible sign of pain, aside from the signs hidden by his shades.

"I don't suppose one of you ladies would care to give my buddy a distraction?" Reno asks. "C'mon, now that I'm taken, he's been bumped up to planet's most eligible bachelor. Sure, he's a little shy, but he's spent enough time hanging around me that he oughta know how to please a lady." Rude blushes faintly at Reno's suggestion, surprising almost all of the onlookers.

"Go for it." Elena whispers to Tifa. "He'd be great for you."

"But, I can't just kiss some guy I barely know." Tifa protests in a low voice, blushing slightly.

"No takers?" Reno asks. He then quickly yanks the chip and heals his friend, then crushes the chip. "That's it, the last of our ties to what's left of Shin-Ra. This calls for another drink." He cleans and sheathes his knife, then gets up and walks back over to where he left his drink.

Elena cleans and pockets her multi-tool before standing. "Now, where were we?" she asks before heading back to the table she'd been at before along with Tifa and Yuffie.

"Hey, were you serious back there when you said Rude'd be great for me?" Tifa asks when they're far enough from the others not to be easily eavesdropped on.

"Well, he does match a lot of the things you said you're looking for. Two of the bigger things you mentioned were sensitivity and smartness and he's got plenty of both. He's really perceptive too."

"Hmmm..." Tifa looks deep in thought as she recalls the conversation she had with Rude on the way to the briefing room, in particular how he'd accurately read her expressions. "Well, he's definitely interesting. I used to think he was either a cold thug or dumb muscle from what I've seen, but talking to him on the walk over here kinda killed those ideas."

"He actually talked enough for you to tell that? Huh, usually it takes him a long time to loosen up enough around someone to talk much. Heh, I actually thought he was mute for the first few hours after I met him." All three laugh a bit at that.

"Yeah, he really surprised me. He got a bit philosophical and even gave me some business advice."

"Some what?" Yuffie asks, having not been listening very well in the hallway.

"Well, I told him about how I want to try running another business after this's over and he had some suggestions that made sense to me. He even smiled a couple times. And was I seeing things or did he actually blush a minute ago?"

"Yeah, it's only the second time I've seen him do that. And both times were because Reno made some comment involving women and Rude being shy."

"That's pretty weird. A shy assassin?" Yuffie says with a giggle.

"Why not? It's not like Turks ever get sent on missions to make friends with their targets. Hey, he's an artist, too. You should try to get him to show you his sketchpad. I've only seen a few of his drawings, but he's really good."

"Really?" Tifa asks. She'd always liked artistic types, but also liked athletic types. The idea of both in one guy intrigues her.

"Yeah. Hold on." Elena slips off her jacket and rolls up her right sleeve to show off her tattoo. "He designed this as a sorta team symbol when they were in the war."

"Cool, is that real?" Yuffie asks.

"Yeah, I just got it yesterday. The guys both have one too."

"Hey, that's pretty cool. It must've hurt, it's a lot bigger than mine." Tifa states before rolling down her right sock and showing off a small tattoo of a dolphin on her ankle.

"Cool, you've got one too!" Yuffie exclaims. "I wish I had a tattoo..."

"Cute dolphin. Mine didn't really hurt. I've heard they only hurt if you get them over bone instead of over muscle."

"I'll have to remember that if I ever get another one. Hmmm, you've got me curious about that sketchpad now."

"Well, ask him about it when you get the chance. And see if you can get him to take his shades off, he's got really cute eyes. It's a long flight from Junon to the crater, so you should have plenty of time to get him alone and talk."

"You've managed to get me curious enough, I'll have to give it a shot. Heh, you three are just full of surprises, aren't you? I didn't expect you to sort out my problem with Cloud and play matchmaker when I came over here."

"Well, the guys're great and all, but they're about the only people I've had around to talk to for the past few months, so of course I jumped at the chance for some girl talk. Hope I didn't overdo it and meddle too much."

Tifa laughs a bit at this. "Actually, I wish someone'd meddled sooner. Heh, I never thought of actually twisting his arm and forcing him to answer."

"Hey, whatever works." Elena replies with a smile.

"We oughta hang out together some when this's over, it's been a lotta fun." Yuffie suggests.

"Girls' night out? Sounds fun to me. Now, we've talked about my love life and Tifa's love life... How about you? You have your eye on anyone?"

Yuffie looks embarrassed. "Um... I dunno."

"C'mon, we won't tell." Tifa says. "We could even hook you up with some cute guy." Yuffie blushes deeply at this suggestion.

"Um... I've been too busy um... trying to steal materia to think about that. Yeah. Hey, I missed hearing about you and your guy. So, you two go all the way yet?" Yuffie asks, desperate to change the subject.

"Every chance we get." Elena brags with a grin, prompting a round of laughs and causing a certain sharp-eared redhead to grin.

"What's it like?" Yuffie asks, then blushes at her own impulsive question.

"You mean you don't know?" Yuffie blushes deeper and stammers a bit.

"Hey, it's alright." Tifa says. "I still haven't gone all the way either, no need to be embarrassed, Yuffie. So, since you're the experienced one, what's it like?"

"Er... Well, it kinda depends." She thinks for a moment on how she'll phrase her answer. "Depending on how you feel about who you're with and if he knows what he's doing it can be the best thing in the world, the worst, or about anywhere in between. Heh, it can even be boring if the guy's got no idea what he's doing. Since we're in love and both know what we're doing, it's been incredible."

"Is it true the first time's... special?" Tifa asks.

Elena shrugs. "I wouldn't know." Seeing confusion on the faces of both of her new friends, she elaborates, "I wasn't exactly given a choice my first time. I guess whichever of you scores first'll have to let me know."

"Oh, sorry I asked."

"It's alright. That's actually kinda a common experience for slum orphans, a hard lesson in why we had to be able to protect ourselves. In a way I was kinda lucky, a lot of people don't survive that lesson. Plus, I ran into the bastard again when I was older and better armed and got a little revenge. But that's enough changing the subject. There's a lot of guys in this room, Yuffie, I bet you think at least one of them's cute." she says, directing the conversation back to a happier subject.

"Ummm... Wellll..."

"Yo, the Highwind's ready!" Reno announces in a loud voice from the other end of the room while pocketing his PHS. "We've gotta pick up some gear from the parking lot, we'll meet you on the ship."

"Hah, saved by the bell!" Yuffie announces.

"We'll just ask you again later." Tifa promises with a devious smile as the Turks and Avalanche exit the briefing room.

* * *

When they step out onto the runway, the Turks are mildly surprised to see that Avalanche has been waylaid by a news team who're attempting to interview them. "Hey, what're you doing?" Reno asks. When the members of Avalanche turn at the sound, they're surprised to see that the Turks have traded in their jackets for black nylon tactical vests that are covered in magazine pouches and are carrying much heavier weaponry.

"Ah, here come Shin-Ra's elite Turks, who'll be leading this mission to save the planet." The reporter says into the camera. "Sir, would you like to say a few words? This is being broadcast live, planetwide."

 _Last words, huh? Heh, alright_. Reno thinks, having just had an idea. "Yeah, I would. Give me that." he says, snatching the microphone. He takes a deep breath and tries to compose himself, acutely aware that millions are watching. "Alright world, listen up, cause this's the most important thing I'll ever say in front of a camera." He pauses for another deep breath.

"What's going on?" Tifa whispers.

"No idea." Elena answers in a whisper.

"I, Reno of the Turks, love Elena of the Turks more than anything on this world." He then reaches out and takes his furiously blushing lover by the hand and pulls her in front of the camera. "Lena, when I told you I'd stay with you till the end, it wasn't just because odds are I'll be dead in a few days. We could die up in the crater, or we could both live to a hundred. Either way, I'll stay with you as long as you'll have me. Well, what I'm saying is, well, if you'd..." Starting to fumble over his words and blush a bit, he decides to get straight to it and kneels, a difficult task when one has a large rifle slung across their chest, a single-shot missile launcher slung across their back, and is also carrying over half their own body weight in ammunition and other equipment. "Lena, if we live through this, would you marry me?"

Her mouth moves soundlessly in surprise for a few moments before she manages to answer. "Yes!" An embrace ensues that's made somewhat awkward due to the large amount of equipment encumbering the couple.

After a few moments of making out on live TV, Reno tosses the microphone back to the reporter. "We can finish this on the ship. Time to get going." he says before leading the way to the Highwind.


	16. En Route

Approaching the Highwind, the first change apparent to the team is a large number of incendiary bombs mounted on the bottom of the ship's fuselage. As they climb the rope ladder, they see that the railing has been hinged in places to drop out of the way and make it easier to launch the three helicopters sitting on the deck.

The helicopters look like slightly longer, sleeker versions of the commonly seen Shin-Ra executive helicopter, except they lack the side platform and have large sliding doors on both sides with .50 machine guns mounted on swivels in the center of each doorway. A triple-barreled 20mm minigun is mounted on a turret under the nose of each, and two of the choppers are attached by cables to small scout cars sitting behind them that look similar to dune buggies. Each car seats three and has a .30 machine gun mounted in front of the passenger seat and a .50 one mounted on a rotating turret around the single rear seat which is slightly elevated to allow firing over the front seats. Two sets of tracks have been mounted on the deck to guide the cars off when the helicopters launch.

"Alright, it'll take ten hours to get to the crater at best speed. This'll be our last chance until the mission's over, so everyone get some rest." Reno announces. The Turks stop at one of the modified choppers and latch their heavy weapons in a rack mounted on the back wall of the chopper's interior, then place their assault vests and the heavy military-style pistol belts attached to them on the floor in front of the weapon rack. Reno then leads the way into the ship's interior, planning to commandeer one of the Highwind's staterooms. As soon as she enters the ship, Elena's eyes begin to water and she begins sneezing furiously. She quickly retreats to the deck. Reno sniffs the air and his eyes narrow with suspicion. "You've got chocobos on board, don't you?"

"Yeah, we've got a whole stable of them, right over there." Cloud announces, pointing at the stable. "How could you tell?"

"Because the mangy featherballs stink. Whole damn ship probably smells like them." He turns to follow Elena back onto the deck, and then suddenly halts. "Almost forgot. Hey, Valentine, catch!" He pulls a computer disc from a pocket and throws it at Vincent, who catches it easily.

"What's this?" he asks, looking as if he couldn't care less.

"A copy of all of Hojo's files on you." Vincent finally shows emotion at this revelation, his eyes widen and his face assumes a similar expression to what most people would have upon being handed a live viper. "Hey, you don't have to read it, but I figured you oughta have the option. Maybe knowing'll make living with the shit he did to you easier. Mosta the staterooms've got terminals that'll read that if you want to." he says before turning and walking back onto the deck. A moment later, Vincent turns and walks into his stateroom and the sound of the door locking is heard.

"Hey, how you doing?" Reno asks as he walks over to where Elena's leaning on the airship's railing.

"The clean air out here helps, but now I've got a killer headache from those damned birds."

"Hm, didn't think your allergy was that bad. Here, pop a couple of these." he offers before fishing a Bahamut Pez dispenser out of a pocket and pulling the head back, revealing that it's loaded with pain pills instead of candy.

"Thanks." she says, then takes two of the offered pills and swallows them dry. He then pockets the dispenser, steps behind her, and begins to loosen her tie. "What're you doing?"

"A little trick I picked up in Wutai called Acupressure." he answers, removing her tie and unbuttoning the top two buttons on her shirt. "It'll help with your headache, trust me." He then folds back the collar of her shirt, places his thumbs over two pressure points located on either side of her spine just below where it connects to her skull, and begins rubbing them in a circular motion.

"Feels nice." she sighs, relaxing under his skilled hands as she watches the Junon coastline recede into the distance.

He grins at hearing that it's working. "Hey, why d'you think I'm so good at massages? Fun trick, huh?" He then firmly slides his thumbs down to two more pressure points where her spine connects to her shoulders and then lightly slides his thumbs out along her shoulders, flicking them out into the air to either side of her.

Her eyes widen slightly in surprise as her headache becomes slightly less intense. "It actually helped. How the hell'd that work?"

"I dunno how, I just know it does." he says, starting the process over again. "The folks I learned it from had some sorta crazy mystical explanation, but I never bought into that stuff." A few minutes later, the painkillers kick in and their effect combined with the massage results in her headache being reduced to a minor annoyance.

"Alright, I'm fine now." she tells him. "Too bad they turned this ship into a bird-sty, I was kinda looking forward to one of those nice beds they've got in the staterooms."

"Don't worry, I've got an idea." he assures her, then walks over to the chopper they'd stashed their gear in. He quickly rifles through a storage bin loaded with survival gear inside the chopper and pulls out a small cloth bundle while proclaiming, "Jackpot! I was looking for a tent, but this's even better!"

"What's that?"

"A jungle hammock. It's like a hammock with a small tent on it." he explains as he strings it up between two of the choppers. By it's size, it was obviously designed for only one person. The bed part of the hammock is roughly six and a half feet long and three feet wide and a slightly larger roof, designed to keep rain off, hangs two feet above it. The two pieces are connected by walls of dark netting that allows occupants to see out without anyone being able to see in. After swiftly assembling it and leaving one side wall flipped up on the roof, he carefully climbs into the hammock, which is hung high and close enough to the railings to allow him to easily see the ocean below.

"Good thing neither of us're claustrophobic." she jokes as she climbs into the tight space with him.

"Whoa, careful where you put that knee." he warns. After she settles in on him, he reaches over and pulls down the last wall, then zips as much of it as he can reach closed.

"Hey, this bed's actually pretty nice." she remarks with a smile. "Ocean view, nice breeze, and my favorite pillow." Her red-haired 'pillow' chuckles lightly as his dexterous fingers caress her back.

* * *

Tifa hangs back in the Highwind's main hall until after everyone goes their separate ways, then quietly follows Rude into the aft observation lounge. Leaning around the doorway, she sees that he's facing away from her, seated on a small couch that faces the Junon coastline. Curious, she creeps up and looks over his shoulder and sees that he has a pencil and small pad of paper in his hands. An accurate reproduction of the pristine coast north of Junon was rapidly taking shape on the paper. "Wow, that's really good." she says, inches from Rude's ear.

Rude jumps from surprise. He was able to count the people he knew of that were able to sneak up on him and were still alive on one hand and still have fingers left over. He was certain that only two such people were on the airship and that they were currently busy with one another, but found he needed to add another name to the list when he turned and saw Tifa. "Um... hi." he said, hoping she wouldn't notice how nervous he suddenly was.

"Oh, sorry for startling you, Rude." she apologizes as she walks around the couch. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Er... go ahead..." _Way to go, real smooth_... he silently berates himself, feeling heat rise to his face.

She takes his invitation and sits down right next to him. "You've got a real talent there. Could I see some more?" she asks, gesturing to the pad. Rude hesitates. He was very self-conscious about his art and seldom showed it to anyone. "C'mon, I won't laugh or anything." Tifa promises, directing a gentle smile towards him. _Is he blushing again? I guess Elena wasn't exaggerating about his shyness.._.

"Alright..." _They both said I need to open up to her as much as I can, guess I'd've shown her eventually.._. he thinks as he hands it over.

She turns the page and finds a sketch of the Junon skyline from the perspective of a rooftop. "Nice, you've really got an eye for detail."

"Um... thanks..."

On the next page, she finds a forested landscape, with several trees in full bloom. "Ooh, beautiful. I really like this one." Turning the page, she finds a drawing of a group of teenagers in military uniforms sitting around a table in what looks like a bar. "Hey, is that you?" she asks, pointing to one.

"Yes, I drew that from memory, it's from during the war. I usually don't draw things from that far back, but there's been a lot of reminiscing going on over the past few days." he says, still a little tense, but pleased that she's enjoying his work.

"Oh. Hey, is that Cid?" Rude nods. "And that must be Reno. I don't recognize anyone else though. Are they friends of yours?"

"Yes, they were." He points to a tall blonde woman seated between himself and Reno. "That's Elly of the Turks, she was... a really good friend of ours back then." His finger moves to a one-eyed brunette with a long scar down her face who's seated on Reno's lap. "That's Angela, she was also a Turk and a good friend. The guy next to Cid is Izlude, he flew with Cid as his weapons officer for most of the war. The others were friends of ours from Soldier, Havoc, Gaspar, Valeria, Kika, and Viktor." He points out each of his old war buddies in turn as he says their name.

"So, did you keep in touch with any of them after the war?"

"Just Reno and Cid, none of the others survived to keep in touch with."

"Sorry for asking."

"It's alright. It was a long time ago and I've... already mourned and accepted those losses."

"Oh." Tifa turns the page again and finds what looks to be a later re-enactment of the same scene, a drawing of Rude, Reno, Elena, and Tseng at a bar. As in the previous drawing, all involved wear expressions of happiness and varying degrees of inebriation. In the next drawing, she finds a grove of Wutaian cherry trees, with the blossoms just beginning to fall in the wind. "Wow. It must've taken you forever to draw all those petals."

He shrugs. "It gave me something to do. Drawing relaxes me like nothing else. It probably sounds strange, but no matter how bad a day I've had, I can... lose myself in it. It's a very peaceful feeling."

"It doesn't sound strange. Playing the piano makes me feel the same way. Just floating along with the notes, not a care in the world as long as the song lasts. Too bad I haven't had a chance to play for a while"

"I guess you'll have to get one for your restaurant when this's all over, so you can play anytime."

"That'd be nice. I wanted one for my bar, but I never could get enough help to move one in."

"I'll help." Rude blurts out. "Er... that is, if you need help moving one when you set up your business, I'd help. Reno owes me a favor, so I can make him help too. Between the two of us, we can carry a piano anywhere you want."

"Thanks, Rude. That's really sweet of you to offer. Hey, this may sound silly, but could you take your glasses off? I like to be able to look people in the eye when I talk to them and... well, I'm also kinda curious what your eyes look like." She flushes slightly at saying the last bit. "I'm sure you get women wondering about your eyes all the time..." she trails off, embarrassed. _Geeze, this is like the gondola ride with Cloud all over again. Why can't I just ask him if he's interested instead of beating around the bush? Well, at least he's attentive and isn't acting clueless..._

"Well, I normally wouldn't..." ... _but I'd do almost anything for you. Just wish I had the guts to say it out loud_... he laments as he slowly removes his shades, revealing his softly glowing baby-blue eyes.

"Hey, she was right." Seeing the question in his expression, Tifa elaborates, "Elena told me you had really cute eyes. I think so too. You oughta show them off more often." _Too bad they're not as easy to read as I hoped, all I can tell from them is he's really nervous and I already knew that before he took the shades off. I wonder why? I've never seen him act nervous before. Maybe thinking the end of the world's coming's affecting him more than he admits._

"Um.. thanks. I... uh... I like your eyes too." He hesitantly says while setting his shades down on a small end table. _Now that was pathetic. I can think of all these poetic phrases involving stuff like sunlight shining through a bottle of wine or off uncut garnets, but all I can say is I like them. Guess it's hard to talk when your heart's lodged in your throat..._

"Thanks." Tifa looks down and turns another page back, revealing a formation of helicopters like the ones on the Highwind's deck flying over a jungle at night. She turns another page and blushes lightly at the unexpected sight.

"Reno's eighteenth birthday." Rude quickly explains upon seeing the picture of a gaunt, haggard, yet smiling Reno in a hospital bed and Elly and himself flanking a large cardboard cake with a nude Angela popping out of it. "Staying in a hospital always depresses him pretty bad, so we did that as a surprise to cheer him up. He told Elena that story the other day, so it was fresh in my mind when I was drawing and I usually just draw whatever comes to mind or whatever I see."

"Oh." _Stop blushing, it's just art. Nothing worse than those sculptures at the Midgar Art Museum_. she silently tells herself, then turns the page and finds another landscape, the Nibel mountains as seen from the reactor. On the next page, she finds a picture of Rude in a traction bed with both arms and one leg in casts. His shades are in place, as usual, and he holds a cigarette in his mouth. Reno stands one side of the bed and is lighting Rude's cigarette, ignoring the large no smoking sign on the wall behind him. Tseng stands on the other side with a mildly amused look on his face. "What happened here?"

"I was in a pretty bad helicopter crash a few years back. We have a tradition dating back to the war that when a friend gets stuck in a hospital, we visit whenever possible. Tseng's executive duties kept him too busy for anything except short visits every few days, but Reno stopped by several times a day every day until I was discharged. He even snuck in real food for me so I didn't have to suffer through hospital food."

_That was unexpectedly nice of him_. "You two are pretty close, huh?" _Looking on the bright side, I guess it's good that the worst thing I can find about Rude is that he's friends with that jerk. And at least I like the other two friends of his I've met._

"In a way, we're brothers."

"How so? You two half-brothers or something?"

"Well, we may not actually be related, but we're still bound by blood. Over the years, we've bled for each other and on each other, spilt the same blood in battle, and saved each other's lives more times than I can recall offhand. It's hard to put in words the bond you get from experiences like that, but... well, I'm sure you've felt the same towards your friends in Avalanche."

"Yeah, I understand what you're saying." _Some of them may be jerks, or crude, or cold, or obnoxious, but after all we've been through together, that doesn't matter. I guess that's why a nice guy like Rude hangs around a guy like Reno._

"I hope I'm not being a bother with all these questions."

"I don't mind."

"Good, cause I've been wondering something lately. A few months back, I overheard a conversation between you two at Gongaga..." _I hope Elena's right, otherwise I'm gonna be really embarrassed_... "So, do you still like me?" Rude responds by doing a very good imitation of the expression one generally sees on a deer caught in an oncoming car's headlights and blushes yet again, deeper than before. "How come every guy I'm interested in lately clams up instead of letting me know if they like me?"

"I... wha... you... interested?" Rude stammers.

"Why else would I've I followed you in here to talk alone? You're a really interesting guy, Rude, and I'd... like to get to know you better. I'm not usually this... forward, but it gets kinda frustrating, having only guys I'm not interested in approaching me..."

"You... really?" Rude takes a moment to collect himself before continuing. "Yes, I like you a lot. Especially how you're one of the kindest people I've ever seen and have a very strong spirit." he confesses quickly after regaining the ability to speak coherently.

Tifa directs her best smile at him. "You mean it? Rude, that's the sweetest thing any guy's ever said to me!" _At least when I don't count lies told to try and get in my pants. But I could see in his eyes that he meant what he said._ She then leans over and gives him a quick hug and kisses him on the cheek.

"Er... Well... Maybe after this is all over, you'd... like to go out to dinner or something?"

"I'd love to. Here, let me give you my number, so you can get in touch when you're finished with Tseng's memorial." The two then pull out their phones and exchange numbers. "Well, it's getting kinda late, so we oughta get to bed if we're going to rest up before the mission. Goodnight, Rude." She leans forward and kisses him on the other cheek, then pauses while still leaning towards him.

Rude gets the hint and hesitantly kisses her on the cheek. "Goodnight, Tifa." She then stands, still smiling, and leaves for her stateroom. Rude sits quietly for some time with a wide grin on his face before he leaves the lounge in search of an unoccupied stateroom.

* * *

"Hmm, wonder how Rude's doing? He shoulda made a move on her by now." Reno muses, laying on one side in the hammock during a lull and absently running the fingers of one hand through Elena's damp hair.

"Well, he's probably not having as much fun as we are, but I'm sure he's doing fine." she answers with a lazy smile while idly tracing paths through the sweat running across her lover's chest. "Tifa said she'd try to get him alone and talk."

"Heh, somebody's got a silver tongue." he laughs quietly.

"Hey, I didn't tell her anything that wasn't true. I seriously think they'll be good for each other."

"Really? Huh. Shame they'll have even less time than us, though. At least they'll get to die in good company instead of being stuck in some one-sided bullshit at the end. Wonder if they're making up for lost time, working through that box of rubbers I gave him?"

"Probably not. She's still expecting Holy to work and they're both a bit shy, although she's not nearly as bad as he is. I bet they kiss and don't go any farther."

"How much you wanna bet?" She whispers a steamy proposition in his ear, causing his eyes to light up. "Sounds fun. And if you're right?" She answers by whispering another idea in his ear. "Yeah, I like those terms, real creative. You're on. Hey, I ever tell you I love the way you think?" he asks before leaning over to plant a lingering kiss on her.

"You've mentioned it a few times, you silver tongued devil." she says with a fond smile.

"Well, alright then, just making sure you're clear on it." he replies with a lazy grin.

"Hey, no worries there, I think the whole planet's clear on it. I still can't believe you went on TV like that."

Reno responds by flashing a Cheshire grin at his fiancé. "You really think I'd pass up a chance to brag to the whole world about how lucky I am? Cause I am, you know. Luckiest guy on this whole damned planet."

"Heh, there you go with the flattery again, acting like I'm some big prize or something."

"I mean it. What, you don't think it's a big prize to find someone you can love and they love you back? Stuff like this doesn't just happen everyday, you know."

"Well, when you put it like that... Guess that makes me the luckiest gal on the planet, huh?"

"Guess so. Hey, there goes the sun. Last we'll see of it till we leave the crater."

Elena rolls over in the hammock so her back's against Reno's chest and slides down so he can see over her head. "Wow, beautiful view of it from up here. If this's gonna be our last sunset, it's a pretty good one."

"Sure is." he replies, holding her tightly. "One of the best I've ever seen, but it's still not as beautiful as you."

"Shameless flatterer." she teases, smiling.

"Hey, I may be shameless, but that's not just flattery. So, tell me, Lena, ever make love while watching the sun set?"

"Not yet. Sounds like fun." she purrs.

* * *

"Attention, now approaching the Northern Crater." the trainee pilot announces over the Highwind's internal PA system. He repeats the message twice, waking everyone who was sleeping inside the ship. They quickly dress and gather on the Highwind's deck, where they find the still-sealed jungle hammock hanging with a small pile of used condoms stuck to the deck below it from being pushed out of a side zipper.

"What the fuck is this happy horseshit? Motherfuckers, leaving their goddamn fucking jizzbags and shit fucking stuck to my motherfuckinging deck! Fuck! This damned ship ain't no fucking cheap-ass love motel!"

"The fuck're you bitching about, waking us up like this?" Reno voice comes from the hammock, sounding annoyed.

"This fucking mess you filthy twats made on the goddamned deck of my fucking ship!" Cid helpfully clarifies, loudly.

"Hell, I'm sure you've got a mop on this bucket somewhere. If it bugs you that much, clean it your own damned self."

"Bitch! The fuck you think-"

"We'll be at the crater in ten minutes." Rude interrupts. We haven't time for this, we should be getting ready. You decent?"

"Hell, you oughta know by now I'm never decent. But we've got our pants on." Reno jokes. He then unzips the side of the hammock and flips it up onto the hammock's roof, revealing that he's lying on his back with Elena lying on top of him, head resting on his chest. Both of their uniforms are rumpled from having been slept in, and he hasn't bothered putting his shirt back on.

"Alright, everyone take a cork." the redhead instructs, fishing the mentioned pill bottle out of a pocket. He then swallows one dry and everyone else follows his lead. "One every twelve hours till we get out of the crater. There's water loaded on the cars, enough for those two teams for as long as we'll be down there. More's loaded on the choppers. Rude, Cid, Spike, do your pre-flight checks. Everyone else, do whatever you gotta to get ready." he orders.

"An' what'll you be doing?" Barret asks.

"This." Reno answers, then wraps his arms around Elena and holds her tightly. "Now, leave us alone 'till we're ready to drop the napalm."

"Say what?"

"Didn't you hear? We're busy." Elena declares, eyes closed as she cuddles up to her lover for what she knows could very well be the last time.

"Just a few more minutes..." Reno whispers, eyes closed and a wistful smile on his face.

Elena whispers back, "Only thing I regret's not making a move on you sooner."

He chuckles softly at this. "Yeah, me too."

A similar conversation was taking place on the other side of the assault team's chopper. "So, it's almost over." Tifa says.

"Nervous?" Rude asks while looking over his chopper.

"A little. But mostly I'm anxious to get it over with."

"Understandable. After all this time preparing, the anticipation to finally pay him what's owed for all he's done is rather strong."

"Yeah. Hey, could you promise me something?"

He removes his shades. "Probably. Depends on what you ask." Rude replies, turning from his work and smiling at her.

"That looks good on you." Tifa states with a smile.

"Hmm?"

"You should smile more often. It looks good on you."

"I think I can manage that, at least when you're around to give me something to smile about."

"How'd a sweet guy like you end up as an assassin?"

"Conscription."

"Ah. Could you promise me you'll come back from this mission?"

"I promise I'll do what I can to make it back to you after killing Sephiroth. You stay safe too, alright?"

"Alright. That shouldn't be hard, though, since I'll just be guarding the cars."

"Thanks. I need to get back to work, now." he says before turning back to his task. A few minutes later, the pair walk back to the main group, finding that Cid and Cloud had already finished. "We'll be over the crater in a couple minutes." Rude announces after looking over the railing."

"Guess we're outa time." Reno laments. He and Elena climb out of the hammock and he quickly takes it down, then stuffs it back in the survival gear bin in his chopper, along with his shirt. "It's supposed to be unusually warm in there." he states before pulling on his assault vest and pistol belt.

"Good idea." Rude says, swiftly removing his tie and then unbuttoning his shirt. Tifa decides that she likes what she sees when he doffs his shirt, and is a bit disappointed when he dons his vest.

"Time to mount up!" Reno announces. The members of Avalanche begin to move towards their choppers.

"Hey, Rude." Tifa calls. When he turns, she reaches up, grabs his vest, and says, "For luck." before pulling him close and kissing him on the lips. He's stunned for a moment, then wraps his arms around her and kisses back. Reno and Elena cheer loudly, and Yuffie joins in a moment later. Everyone else on the deck looks very surprised, with the exceptions of Vincent, who's trying to look aloof as always, and Nanaki, who finds human mating customs to be very confusing and isn't entirely sure what's going on. When the pair pull back and realize that they're the center of attention, both suddenly look embarrassed.

"Stop gawking." Reno commands. "Haven't any of you losers ever seen a kiss before? Now, get to your ships."

"Hey," Elena calls, "congratulations. Didn't I tell you?"

"Yeah, thanks." Tifa calls back before joining her team on their chopper.

"Thanks." Rude says. "I guess that matchmaking makes us even."

Elena puts on her assault vest, then looks at her two partners. "So, I take it things went well for the two of you?"

"Yeah." Rude answers, smiling faintly.

"Hey, buddy, you get lucky last night?" Reno asks.

"..." Rude looks slightly embarrased.

"C'mon, don't pull the silent act."

"Well, we kissed last night."

"Yes! I win!" Elena shouts.

"Yep. Guess you get to collect your prize when we get back." Reno states with a grin while climbing into the pilot seat. "So, Rude, did you use tongue?"

"...no." he answers as he settles into the gunner's seat beside Reno.

"Did she?"

"...no."

"Damn, talk about wasting opportunities." Reno teases with a smirk. "So, you two ready?" After seeing both his companions nod, he turns on his radio. "All squad leaders check in. This is assault leader, ready to go."

"Reserve team's ready." Cloud answers.

"Shit, yeah! Security leader here, my fucking badass team's chomping at the motherfucking bit and ready to fucking go!" Cid announces.

"The Highwind's crew's ready. We'll be in range to drop bombs in two minutes." the trainee pilot states.

"Alright." Reno says as he hits the switches to begin warming up his chopper's turbines. "Let's get to work."


	17. Airborne Assault

Reno eases the control stick of his chopper forward and it slips into the darkness of early morning, still several hours before dawn. The chopper is flanked on either side by another, and the trio of reconditioned war machines slice foreword through the chill air, two of them pulling small scout cars off the Highwind's deck so that they hang below their choppers by cables. They dive down towards the brightest light source present, the burning napalm that coats the upper areas of the northern crater's interior.

A flight of dragons rises to challenge the intruders and the lead dragon is immediately transfixed by streams of 20mm shells, blowing large pieces out of it's body and causing it to fall into the flames below. "Hey, how about a little fire discipline?" Reno yells into the radio as the gunners seek out new targets. "Short bursts! Overkill's fun and all, but we don't got enough ammo to go shredding every little thing we see. Assault team'll handle threats from directly ahead, Reserve'll take the left, and Security'll take threats from the right."

"What about the rear?" Cloud asks as the remaining dragons spread out and are destroyed by a mix of 20mm and .50 shells.

"We oughta be moving fast enough there won't be any. If there are, whoever's closer handles it." The napalm begins to burn out as the choppers reach the floor of the crater, revealing an assortment of blackened corpses strewn across the rocky ground. Reno takes a moment to consult the map and ship's sensors before guiding his chopper into a large tunnel, followed closely by the other two.

They fly for some distance down the winding tunnel before Reno announces, "Ceiling's getting kinda low, time to set them down." He eases back on his throttle, causing his chopper to hover, and is imitated by the other two as he descends. Once he's low enough that the scout car is touching the ground, he presses the button that releases the cables attaching it to the chopper. Cloud does the same with his. "I want these landed in a circle, noses out, so security can use any of the mounted guns if they hafta." Reno orders, then allows his chopper to glide a bit forward of the car before he sets it down.

Reno flips the switch that stops his chopper's engine and the Turks leap to their feet, quickly grabbing their weapons from the rack in their chopper before jumping out the side doors and sprinting past where the other two choppers are setting down. The members of Avalanche leap out of their choppers and the reserve team hurries after the Turks as the security team spreads out to protect the choppers, accompanied by the sound of Cid bellowing curses at any team member he deems to be moving too slowly.

Reno keys the ignition to his car and revs the old gas powered engine as Elena seats herself in the passenger seat and loads a belt into the .30 machine gun mounted in front of it and Rude climbs into the rear seat and loads a belt into the .50 machine gun. Reno waits a few seconds for the reserve team to climb into their car, Cloud driving, Tifa in the passenger seat, and Vincent on the heavy machinegun, before flooring the accelerator and speeding past the parked choppers. "Fuck! Watch where you're fucking driving! You almost fucking hit me, you motherfucking maniac! Goddamnit!" can be faintly heard from a parked chopper as they zip past, causing the red-haired driver to smirk.

"Remember, we're focusing on speed!" Reno yells into the radio, mainly for the benefit of Cloud's team, as he expects his fellow Turks to have his plan committed to memory. "Don't stop unless I stop. Use short bursts and don't bother with targets that aren't in our way." He powerslides around a corner and comes face-to-face with a surprised looking tonberry, which doesn't have time to react before Reno stomps down on the accelerator, ramming the tonberry and driving over top of it. It shakes it head and begins to climb to it's feet when the second scout car runs over it, leaving an angry, bruised tonberry in it's dust.

Turning another corner, they exit into a large cavern and come to a halt at the edge of a deep pit. Large rock formations, somewhat like a massive natural spiral staircase, lead downwards. "Sensors say he's down there." Reno says. "You three wait here, we'll go on foot the rest of the way." he orders as the six dismount their cars. He looks over the edge and thinks for a moment before announcing, "those rocks're too obvious, probably a trap." Reno then reaches down and grabs the hook from the winch mounted on his car's front bumper and attaches it to a handle on the back of his assault vest. Designed for hauling a wounded wearer out of danger, the handle is easily capable of supporting his bodyweight.

"Lena, work the winch. Rude, overwatch." he orders before walking onto the first rock, drawing his bayonet from it's sheath behind his left shoulder, fixing it on his rifle, and then stepping over the edge. "Keep lowering me." he orders into his radio as he looks around. "Looks like I was right, there's ambushes on a buncha the rocks." he says when he spots several large creatures waiting out of reach on some of the rocks. The temperature, already unusually high for this part of the planet, steadily increases as Reno descends deeper into the planet. "I see the bottom, another twenty yards." Reno then comes to a halt hanging by a steel cable over a pit about ten feet away from a platform apparently suspended by nothing in the center of the cave. Nothing is visible under it.

"A little lower. Alright, stop." he orders. He then allows his rifle to hang by it's sling and pulls a rock hammer from the gear mounted on his vest. Reno then begins swinging his legs so that he swings back and forth until he swings close enough to the central platform that he can swing the hammer so it's spike embeds itself in the rock, giving him a handle to pull himself up with. "Alright, I'm at the bottom." he says as he shoulders his rifle and leans forward on the cable to create tension on it. "Lena, c'mon down." He feels a slight pressure on the cable pulling backward and a minute later hears a sliding sound descending from above. Shortly afterwards, her boots impact with his shoulders as she reaches the end of the cable.

Elena drops down, steps to the side, shoulders her rifle, and covers the platform in front of them as Reno says, "Your turn, Rude." He feels a significantly greater pressure this time and shortly afterward hears Rude sliding downward. An instant later, Rude leaps off the cable and lands next to Reno, then unslings his minigun from the large ammo backpack he's wearing. While his friends cover him, Reno removes the hook from his vest and attaches it to the rock hammer that's still embedded in the floor.

Elena asks, "How deep do you think we are?"

Reno shrugs as he walks towards the center of the square platform. "Half a mile, at least. Oughta be a way down further-" He's interrupted as a spherical mass with a woman's torso and two tentacles protruding from it flies up from the green mist surrounding the platform.

"Jenova..." Rude states as he presses the button to cause the barrels of his minigun to spin up to speed.

"Hiding behind Mommy, General?" Reno taunts as he fires a .30 burst into the center of Jenova's body. Elena quickly fires four grenades, then begins to reload the launcher mounted on her rifle from the bandoleer of minigrenades she's wearing. A moment after Elena fires her second grenade, Rude's minigun reaches proper speed and he lets off a sustained burst, accompanied by a deafening roar. After a few more seconds of minigun fire, two more grenades from Elena, and another burst of rifle fire from Reno, Jenova begins to drift backwards and disintegrate.

"Well, that was easier than I expected." Elena remarks. There is a sudden rumble and the platform begins to break apart, as pieces split off and fly upwards one by one.

"You just had to go and say it's easy and jinx us, didn't you?" Reno teases with typical gallows humor and a grim expression as the remainder of the platform soars away, causing the trio to tumble into darkness.

Rude regains consciousness first and finds that he's laying on a rock platform. "Hey!" he shouts when he spots his companions on similar platforms nearby. The only light source is a white glow emanating from behind an oddly shaped rock nearby and equidistant from the small platforms. Swirling green mist surrounds them.

"The hell..." Reno mutters, shaking his head as he stands up. "What're you three doing down here?" he asks.

"Last I remember, we were standing on the ledge and everything went black." Cloud replies.

"Strange. How-" Elena's interrupted when a ring of green energy shoots out from the stone structure in the center, scorching all six painfully without causing any real harm. An unseen force then lifts them from their platforms and immobilizes them so their feet dangle a foot above the stone. Sephiroth materializes, floating in the air above the central stone.

"There's the fucker..." Reno growls, pent-up hatred and rage boiling to the surface at the sight of Tseng's killer. A moment later, another energy ring lashes out. "fuck you! That all you got?" Reno taunts.

"The hell's he doing to us? I can't move!" Elena shouts, looking pissed off. Rude glares silently from behind his shades. The unseen force pulls them towards Sephiroth and another energy ring lashes out, driving them back.

"Still don't got any balls, huh, Poster Boy?" Reno taunts, using an old nickname for Sephiroth from the war. "You were a fucking coward and ticket-puncher back in the war, and you're still one now, motherfucker!" A bright flash emanates from the central rock, the unseen force begins spinning the members of the two teams, and Cloud begins to mutter about Holy.

"I see you're still doing the same shit, sending in the fucking cannon fodder and swooping in at the end to look good so you don't risk your goddamned ass any more than you fucking have to!" Reno continues. "I bet you don't have the fucking balls to set us down and fucking fight us, you fucking momma's boy!" Another energy ring lashes out, inflicting pain on the Turks and Avalanche members and further angering them. "Fight us, you motherfucking bitch!" Reno demands. Another flash emanates from the central rock and the stone platforms disintegrate.

"We'll avenge Tseng's death and the future you stole from us!" Elena angrily declares as the six fighters are drawn towards Sephiroth.

The light fades and when it returns a moment later, the six find themselves standing on large floating stone platforms, once again able to move. A massive humanoid torso with flipper-like arms and Sephiroth's torso growing out of it's neck floats over the pit a few feet from the edge. The three Turks stand on a platform in front of him and the trio from Avalanche stands on another roughly twenty yards to the side.

The Turks and ex-Turk immediately open fire with the weapons in hand as soon as they can move again. A moment later, Cloud and Tifa attack with materia resulting in a hail of gunfire, several grenades, a green, mist-like mass of energy, and a massive beam of energy fired by a dragon orbiting the planet that somehow manages to penetrate the cave's ceiling striking Sephiroth. The creature waves it's left flipper and a burst of flames erupts from the ground under Vincent. It then nods towards Rude, sending an expanding ball of black energy towards him. He drops to his knees from the impact and quickly casts a powerful healing spell on himself as his comrades keep up their offense.

Sagging from the various powerful impacts, Sephiroth's bizarre form tilts and drifts back and to his right and shudders before suddenly disintegrating. Suddenly, everything goes dark and a strange howling noise is heard. "What's going on? Is he dead?" Elena asks, unable to see anything, even with her mako-enhanced vision.

"Damned if I know..." Reno calmly replies. Light suddenly returns, revealing a swirling mass of purple mist surrounding the three Turks. The trio from Avalanche is nowhere to be seen. A form descends towards the trio, Sephiroth with four white wings where his legs should be and a black one where his right arm should be. Rude raises an eyebrow at the odd sight. "The hell happened to poster boy?" Reno wonders. Sephiroth waves his human arm and a magical shield materializes in front of him.

"Not a bad idea. Throw up some defenses." Reno orders, thinking tactically again now that he has gained control over the initial rage that boiled up when he saw his enemy. He then concentrates on an experimental red orb looted from the Weapons Development department labs, causing a large humanoid robot to appear and place a powerful absorbent energy barrier on the trio. Rude calls on a yellow orb in his armor to cast a spell that places a different shield on the trio and allows them to move faster as well. Elena, having nothing defensive to add, uses another stolen experimental materia to summon a purple one-eyed giant who strikes Sephiroth with a massive beam of energy from his eye before disappearing. She then begins to reload her grenade launcher as Rude opens fire and Reno dispels Sephiroth's shield.

Sephiroth waves his arm again and the barriers erected by Rude disappear as Reno pulls the missile launcher off his back and Elena opens fire. Reno had been too angry to think beyond the weapon in hand and his target during the previous battle, but now he takes careful aim with his most powerful weapon and fires the anti-tank missile at Sephiroth. The massive explosion drives the floating being back several yards. He responds by waving his arm again and causing a large wave of energy to explode from the ground around the trio, although the magical barrier erected by Reno absorbs the brunt of the assault. Reno then tosses aside the now-useless launcher tube and resumes firing with his rifle.

Suddenly, Sephiroth raises his wing and arm and a massive ball of burning yellow plasma appears behind him and moves toward him, flowing over him and approaching the trio of Turks, throwing massive rocks ahead of it. The searing plasma washes over them and the next thing they know, they're picking themselves off the ground as red flames dissipate around them and a giant flaming bird fades away in front of them. "Holy shit, I think I might be able to forgive the weapons development crew for all their anti-lefty bullshit after that..." Reno swears, grateful for the experimental defensive materia they'd looted from the Shin-Ra building.

Reno concentrates on another orb in his armor and a giant woman in a purple dress with two white wings sprouting from her back appears and heals the Turks before disappearing. Rude finally fires off the last of the minigun ammo, so he drops it, hits quick-release buckles on his shoulders to drop the heavy ammo backpack, grabs the light sub-machinegun that's holstered on his right hip, and focuses on a red orb imbedded in it's forward grip. Three gigantic armored figures appear surrounding Sephiroth and release a massive wave of energy before disappearing. At the same time, Sephiroth hits Reno with a cone of blue energy and Elena fires two more grenades at him and begins loading the last of her minigrenades into her launcher.

Sephiroth drifts lower and Reno takes advantage of it, leaping forward and jabbing his bayonet into Sephiroth's abdomen, then emptying the remainder of his magazine on full auto with the muzzle touching Sephiroth's stomach before leaping back and loading another twenty round magazine into his rifle. Elena fires the last of her grenades, then opens fire with her 5.56mm rifle while Rude uses the Crusader materia again. Sephiroth staggers back from the assault and energy begins emanating from small holes in his torso. He has a surprised look on his face as he disintegrates. There's a sudden flash of light, and the Turks find themselves standing on the ledge above the pit again, near the Reserve team and scout cars.

"Is it over?" Elena asks, looking around.

"Looks like it." Reno replies. He then turns on his radio and says, "Target eliminated. I want those birds' engines running and ready to take off by time we get back."

"What about Holy?" Tifa asks.

"What about it?" Reno replies. "Hey, we did what we could and got our revenge, now whatever happens, happens. Let's just get outta here and enjoy what time we've got left."

He opens his mouth to say something else when Cloud suddenly claps his hands to the side of his head and says, "Still... here..."

"What?" Tifa asks.

"Laughing..." Cloud moans as he falls to his knees.

"Damnit, Strife, we don't have time for this shit." Reno gripes as he tucks his rifle's butt under his arm in a one-handed grip, grabs Cloud by the suspenders with the other hand, and begins roughly dragging him towards the nearest car. Cloud goes limp about halfway there and Tifa catches up and helps load Cloud into the passenger seat.

"I'm surprised you didn't try to leave him." she remarks as she buckles Cloud in.

"Hey, I thought I already told you, it's my job as leader to get you all out. Just cause I don't like the guy, doesn't mean I won't do my job." Reno replies while heading to the other car. Everyone climbs into their cars, with Tifa driving the reserve team's car, and she and Reno start their engines and begin driving back towards the choppers. "Hey Valentine," Reno calls over the radio, "Know how to fly one of those choppers?"

"No, helicopters were not common enough to warrant training on when I was a Turk." the crimson-eyed gunslinger replies.

"You three'll ride out on our chopper, then." Reno decides as he guides his car around a curve at high speed. "Rude, help load Strife in the chopper when we get back." They meet no resistance on the way out, and are soon at the landing zone, skidding to a halt next to the chopper the Turks flew in on. "Get moving, people!" Reno yells into the radio as he leaps from his car and sprints for his chopper, followed closely by Elena and Vincent. Rude quietly helps get Cloud's limp form out of his seat and slings him over a shoulder before following, along with Tifa.

As soon as the last member of his team climbs aboard, Reno increases the throttle, lifting his chopper from the ground. Elena sits in the co-pilot's seat beside him, scanning for targets for the 20mm cannon. In the back, Rude sets Cloud down and helps Tifa strap him in as the two choppers speed back up the tunnel and Vincent mans one of the door guns. "Is it a Mako-poisoning relapse?" Rude asks, seeing that Tifa's concerned for her old friend.

"Looks like it. But he got over that once, so I'm sure he'll beat it again." she replies. "Hey, how come I haven't seen any of you using weapons like you used today when we fought before?"

"Because we were on covert missions every time we fought against you and weren't authorized to bring any weapons we couldn't conceal under a jacket or in a briefcase. We generally prefer quiet, close-quarters weapons as well," he replies as he stands at the other door gun.

A deep rumbling noise is heard and the cavern walls begin to shake as Cloud reaches up with one arm and opens his eyes. "I... saw her... I think I'm beginning to understand..." he declares in a soft voice.

"Understand what?" Tifa asks.

"I think... I can meet her there..." he continues, apparently failing to notice Tifa, once again, as the choppers climb over the rim of the crater and head towards the Highwind. Cloud turns and stares out a side door and Tifa stands up, walks over to the other door, and leans against the doorway next to Rude.

"I'm glad you kept your promise." she says, smiling at him.

He chuckles quietly while removing his shades. "I'm glad too." he says with a sincere smile. "It may be the end of the world, but... it's still nice to have someone to come back to."

In the front of the chopper, Elena leans over to Reno and whispers, "Hey, look in the port door."

He glances over his shoulder, sees Rude and Tifa standing together, smiling at each other and talking quietly, and smiles at the sight. "Good. I dunno 'bout her, but he deserves it."

"Hey, be nice. She deserves it too."

"Well, if you-" Reno's interrupted when a massive column of mako erupts from the crater behind them. "Strange. Good thing we didn't waste time getting out." he remarks before bringing his chopper to a landing on the Highwind's deck. Cid brings the other down beside it a moment later.

"We're headed to Kalm, you fuckers can tag along if you want. Goddamn wind's on our side this time, so we'll get there in four hours." Cid announces loudly as he dismounts his chopper. He then heads towards the Highwind's bridge.

Reno shrugs. "May as well ride with them for a while longer, it'll be quicker."

"Holy should be moving now." Nanaki announces as the town of Icicle becomes visible off the starboard. He then looks up. "And it seems Meteor is moving freely now as well."

Tifa asks, "What do you mean, 'moving freely'?"

"Sephiroth was pulling it in at a constant rate, but now that he's dead, both Holy and Meteor are moving at their natural speeds. In other words, the planet's gravity is now causing Meteor to accelerate."

"You mean we've even less time now? Ah hell..." Reno sighs, then wraps his arms around Elena and holds her tightly, like a drowning man holding onto floating debris. She returns the embrace with equal desperation, feeling intensely the pressure of reduced time.

"Well, Holy's coming, so it doesn't matter if Meteor's moving faster, right?" Tifa asks.

"I hope you're right." Rude states with a sad expression on his face as he places a hand gently on her shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who didn't recognize the summons making cameo appearances, here they are in order of appearance: Reno cast Golem from FF6 and Tactics, Elena cast Cyclops from FF Tactics, Reno cast Sraphim from FF6, then Rude cast Crusader from FF6 twice. And yes, that was Super Nova followed by the trusty old Final Attack and Phoenix combo that caused Reno to make his comment about the weapons development department.
> 
> Also, no, I didn't skip the last battle where Cloud duels Sephiroth. It happened when he blacked out, but this story's not focused on him, so there wasn't any reason to write about his out of body experience.


	18. Epilogue

"I just had an idea," Reno announces, brightening visibly. "Yo, Highwind! Still got your ears on?" he calls into his radio. "Guess not," he remarks when no reply was forthcoming.

"What, you've got an idea about Meteor?" Elena asks.

"Nope, just thought of a way to snatch one last bit of happiness before that damned big rock comes down and kills us," Reno replies with a mischievous wink. He then adjusts the frequency to the airship's bridge and tries again, "Hey, Cap'n, get your ass back here!"

"Why the hell should I, motherfucker?" Cid's response comes back loud enough for Elena to hear clearly from her position, still tightly wrapped in Reno's arms.

"Because last I checked, airships fell under maritime law. And maritime law says the Captain of a ship at sea can perform weddings. So get your ass back here!" Hearing Reno's idea causes Elena's face to brighten.

"Huh, never done one'a them before. Got a ring?" Cid asks, surprised at the request.

"Shit. Hold on, we're coming up on Icicle. Oughta be time to stop in there real quick. We'll have time, right?" He directs this question to Nanaki.

"It should take at least two hours for Meteor to impact the planet at it's current speed, not taking into account air resistance and Holy," the furry quadruped answers in his surprisingly soft voice.

"Great, we'll have plenty of time. Go ahead and set us down," Reno orders before turning off his radio. "You know, I've never been to a wedding before. I know basically we say vows to each other in front of witnesses and some official type and that rings're involved, but... uh... I'm not so clear on the specifics. So, um... anyone know how we're supposed to do this?"

"I've never been to one either," Elena confesses. The pair look at Rude, who shrugs helplessly.

"I've been to a few, back when I lived in Nibelheim," Tifa announces.

"So you'll help us?" Elena asks.

"Sure, I still owe you for helping me so much in Junon." Tifa pauses to think for a moment, reviewing old memories. "Alright, you'll need a ring for each of you, usually plain gold. They're engraved a lot of the time, but that'll have to wait until later if you want to do this before Holy comes. Also, the groom needs to pick a best man and the bride needs to pick a maid of honor."

"What do they do?" the petite blond asks.

"Help arrange the wedding, assist the bride and groom, make sure they show up on time, and hold the rings until it's time to put them on."

"Alright, want to be the maid of honor?"

"I'd be honored," Tifa answers her.

Reno glances at Rude, who nods and smiles slightly, silently letting his best friend know that of course he'd be honored to be the best man at his friends' wedding. "Anything else?" the lanky redhead asks.

"Nice clothes. I saw a bridal shop last time I passed through town, so I should be able to help find a nice wedding dress. And there should be some place you guys can find some nice suits. Traditionally the groom wears a black or white tux."

"I don't have to wear a tie, do I?" Reno asks, looking none too thrilled with the idea of dressing up.

"C'mon, you know I love it when you dress up for me."

"Well, alright..." he agrees, unable to resist the look his fiancé's giving him. "I hate ties, but I'll wear one for ya."

"That's all we need," Tifa says. "Well, there's supposed to be flowers, but I don't know if we can find any here. After we get everything, we can come back here, get dressed, and have the ceremony. You two say your vows to each other, Rude and I hand over the rings, you put them on each other, then Cid declares you 'man and wife' and you get to kiss."

* * *

The deck shakes slightly as the Highwind lands on the outskirts of Icicle. "Let's get moving!" Reno declares as he leads the way to the rope ladder.

"Can I come? I love shopping!" Yuffie blurts out, looking a bit more hyper than normal.

Reno rolls his eyes and is thinking up an appropriately insulting way to refuse her when Elena says, "Sure, I could use a little extra help picking out a dress." Reno shrugs, deciding that it's not worth wasting any of the little time left arguing over something trivial, and quickly climbs down the rope ladder.

He heads into town at a jog, followed by Elena, Rude, Tifa, and Yuffie, all of whom were starting to feel cold in their current clothes. Reno rushes up to the first townsperson he sees, grabs him by the front of his coat, and demands, "Where's the nearest jewelry store?" while shaking the unfortunate man. He hurriedly gives directions in a quavering voice, then Reno shoves him aside into a snow bank and quickly continues on his way.

"Sorry!" Tifa calls out as the group hurries past. Reno throws an arm over Elena's shoulders as they jog and the pair begin whispering to each other.

"Whatcha talking about?" Yuffie asks.

"We're working out our vows," Elena replies.

"Oh. So what're you gonna say?"

"None'a your damn business, brat," Reno curtly answers.

"We haven't decided yet," Elena adds in a kinder tone.

"Redheaded jerk," Yuffie mutters, then tries to move closer to eavesdrop, but finds herself pulled out of listening range by Rude. "Hey!"

"C'mon, give them some space," Tifa urges. "You'll hear whatever they pick at the ceremony anyway." Tifa then returns to discussing the details of the ceremony with Rude. A short while later, they find the store.

The jeweler, not expecting any customers so early in the day, looks up when he hears the bell over the door and is surprised to see five sweaty, disheveled, well-armed figures in blood-stained clothes, three of whom also had slightly singed hair and clothes, pile into his store. "Um... Can I help you?" he timidly asks.

Tifa quickly tells him, "We're here to buy a wedding set." She hopes her explanation will set him at ease, since she realizes they make an odd sight, fresh from the battle in the Northern Crater.

The jeweler squints for a moment, looking over the group of fighters. "Hey, I recognize you now! I saw you on TV yesterday, proposing to her! It's an honor to have the saviors of the planet in my store! Wedding sets are right over here." he gushes.

"Wow," Elena remarks in surprise, "we're celebrities." She quickly moves over to the indicated display case with her fiancé and begins looking over the available rings. Tifa and Yuffie follow, while Rude wanders the shop, looking at the other jewelry that's for sale.

After a few minutes of looking, a pair of plain gold bands is selected and bagged while Reno pays for them. "I'll take these," Rude says after the rings have been bought and points out a fine gold chain with several small dark red garnets hanging on it and a pair of matching earrings. "They remind me of your eyes," he tells Tifa, hoping that he doesn't look or sound as awkward as he feels. "I think they'll look nice on you."

"Thanks, Rude, you didn't have to do that," Tifa says, pleased at the unexpected gift.

"No, but I wanted to," he insists with a slight smile as he hands the boxed set to her.

"That's really thoughtful of you. Well, looks like I've gotta go if I don't want to get left behind." Tifa quickly gives him a light kiss on the lips, then hurries after Elena and Yuffie, who are walking towards the exit while smirking and waving at her. "Hey, you weren't going to stick me with tuxedo shopping, were you?"

"I don't know," Elena jokes as they exit the shop, "the guys might need the help." The trio laugh a bit at this.

"What'd he buy you?" Yuffie asks. Tifa opens the box and her two friends lean over to look while walking towards the bridal shop. "Oooh, nice," Yuffie compliments. "That's almost as good as buying you materia."

"He's got good taste," Elena remarks. "I bet he's right about them going with your eyes."

* * *

Later, after finding the shop and explaining to the owner what a hurry they are in, the trio find themselves looking over the small amount of dresses in stock that fit Elena or were close enough they could be quickly modified to do so. "Why've they all got buttons on the back? I won't be able to reach half of them," Elena complains.

"That's because it's my job to help you get the dress on," Tifa explains, then pauses to laugh a bit before continuing, "and it's Reno's job to help you take it off."

"Oh, fun," Elena says, smiling widely. "I just hope we have time to get to that part. That reminds me, I oughta check, see how the guys're doing." She then pulls out her PHS and selects Reno's number.

"Hey, babe, what's up?" he answers.

"Just checking in on you. Find a tux yet?"

"Nah. The jewelry guy gave us bad directions, so we've had to shake down some people. We oughta be about a block from the tux place if the last guy I roughed up had his directions straight."

"Oh. Well, all the dresses they have that'll fit me are plain white, so make sure you pick up something that matches. Too bad there's no time to have one made, or I'd get one in Turk blue."

"Yeah, that'd be great. Too bad."

"Yeah, so much for having a blue wedding. Also, I'm going to stop by our safehouse for a quick shower before heading back to the ship. I'd like to at least be clean at our wedding."

"Good idea, Lena. Hey, we finally found the place. Guess I'll meet you at the safe house. Love ya, babe."

"Love you too," she replies before hanging up and getting back to choosing a dress.

* * *

"Hey, I'm in a hurry," Reno announces as he and Rude enter the tuxedo shop. "Show me what you've got in my size."

"Sure thing, Romeo." the clerk replies.

"Why the hell you calling me Romeo?"

"After what you did on TV yesterday, you really have to ask? The whole world saw you and commentators on the news've been talking about it. I guess they needed a change of pace from talking about certain doom. Now, step this way, Romeo, and I'll take your measurements."

* * *

When they arrive at the small Icicle safehouse, Reno and Rude find Tifa and Yuffie sitting on the couch, watching the news. "Elena's in the bathroom," Tifa informs them. Rude is pleased to notice that Tifa's wearing the jewelry he bought her.

"Right," Reno says. "I'm gonna go get a drink. Have a seat, pal." He then unsubtlely pushes Rude towards Tifa and walks towards the kitchen. "Hey brat, come here!" he calls after entering the small kitchen.

"Wha'd'ya want, turkey?" Yuffie asks, following out of curiosity.

He holds up a finger in the universal sign to keep quiet before explaining in a whisper, "Give them some room, alright?"

"What?" She turns and sees that Rude and Tifa are sitting very close together and leaning towards each other while talking quietly and that Rude isn't wearing his shades. "Oh. Heheh, cute."

"Yep. There's a TV in the corner to keep you busy. Now stay put." he instructs before moving to leave the room.

"Where ya going?"

"To Lena. Now, stay."

* * *

"You seem pretty nervous, Rude. What's wrong?"

"Well, um..." he pauses to take a deep breath. "The thing is, I'm... not very good at talking to women, especially beautiful ones..."

"What," Reno jokes while passing through the room on his way to the bathroom, "you mean there's people you actually are good at talking to?" Rude rolls his eyes and chuckles lightly at his friends jest.

"That was rude," Tifa complains while glaring at Reno's back as he exits the room.

"No, that was Reno, but people do get us confused sometimes," Rude deadpans with laughter glinting in his eyes.

"Oh, that was awful," Tifa laughs, her glare wiped away by a wide smile.

"Maybe so, but it was worth it to put that smile back on your face," Rude replies while smiling back at her, glad that his intentionally lame joke had the intended effect. They're both quiet for a while as Rude tries to think of something to say.

"You always so mysterious, Rude? How about telling me something about yourself?" Tifa requests while gazing deeply into his eyes and sliding a little closer.

"Well..." he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before continuing, "The earliest I can remember, I was alone in the slums, doing... whatever I had to do to survive. Those aren't very... pleasant memories. I prefer not to think back on my childhood if I can help it."

"But you survived," Tifa says while wrapping an arm around his broad shoulders and placing her other hand over one of his. "That's probably why you're so strong." she says with a reassuring smile.

"That which does not kill me, right?" he quotes with a faint smile. "Well, one day, I was captured by a Shin-Ra conscription patrol. I was barely fourteen at the time."

"That's horrible, forcing someone that young to fight."

"Actually, I didn't mind much when I found out what was going on. For the first time I can remember, I had three full meals every day and a warm, safe place to sleep every night. Pretty inexpensive way to buy someone's loyalty, but it worked well on us slum rats. I scored high enough on the intelligence and psychological tests that I was placed in Turk training. It was intense. Most of the trainee Turks didn't make it, but I was determined to excel, because I owed Shin-Ra majorly for getting me off the street."

"So that's why you've stayed with Shin-Ra so long? Obligation?"

"Yes. Also, the Turks are the closest thing I've ever had to a family. You can't just leave your family."

"No, I don't suppose you can." Tifa says with a thoughtful look on her face.

"After basic training, I was sent to sniper school and given a roommate, since snipers work in pairs. It took some time to warm up to each other, but after a couple weeks, Reno became the first person I considered a friend and the first I really trusted. We were still both a few months away from fifteen when we finished training. We were both granted the rank of major and sent directly to the theatre command center, where we were immediately deployed on our first mission."

"Wow, that's a long time to be friends with someone. Hey, the other day Cid said something about you having a sweetheart during the war. I'm kinda curious, well, the way you responded was a little odd."

A small, bitter smile crosses Rude's face. "We could've been, and would've if we hadn't both been such cowards..."

"What do you mean?" Tifa asks, even more curious after Rude's enigmatic answer.

"Remember the drawings I showed you yesterday? Two of them had a Turk named Elly in them. We were very... close friends and... both wanted to be more."

"So why'd you hold back?"

"Well, you already heard what a short life expectancy we had back then. We'd both seen friends fall in love, lose the one they loved, and become so... torn up... that they often committed suicide, or... simply stopped caring and became sloppy, causing them to die from stupid mistakes on missions. It... Well, frankly, it terrified us. It's pathetic, really. We were both so scared of losing something that we never even tried to have it in the first place. We even lied to ourselves, denying our own feelings..." Rude sighs. "I still think Reno and Angela were the smart ones, even though it hurt him so much when she died. Ever hear the saying, 'better to have loved and lost'?"

"Yes, I've heard it."

"It's true. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until Elly was dieing. Our teams were on a joint mission after the war, hunting down guerrillas, when shrapnel from a mortar round pierced both of her lungs and several arteries. She knew she wouldn't live long enough to be med-evaced and we... didn't have enough materia to do more than delay her death, so... she stopped lying to herself and told me her feelings and... her regrets. And I did the same. I thought all the death I'd seen during the war had caused me to lose the ability to cry, but... I was wrong. We must have made quite a sight, three of the deadliest commandos in the world, huddled together in a foxhole, weeping while our comrade died..."

"Wait, Reno was actually crying?" Tifa asks, incredulous that the Reno she'd fought could be the same person as the Reno in Rude's stories.

"She was like a sister to him. And... we'd been thinking we had beaten the odds. All during the war, people died all around us, but the four of us somehow kept coming back alive. Just when we were beginning to think we'd all make it and have plenty of time to do all the things we'd never dared hope to be able to do... one of us was snatched away."

"Oh. That's... I'm not really sure what to say, losing someone that way's so sad..." she said while squeezing his hand comfortingly.

"At least she had those who loved her with her at the end and had time to say farewell. And I learned from my mistake, which is why I've been so open with you. The fear's still there, but I try not to let it control me. And it's not as bad as it was before finding out if... um..."

"If I liked you too? No problem there, Rude, it seems like the more we talk, the more I find to like about you. Like how you're actually willing to talk about your feelings instead of hiding them. Hey, do you have any happy stories from your time as a Turk?" she asks in an attempt to brighten the mood.

"I've a few. For one, there's the time I had Elly distract Reno while I mixed hair remover into his shampoo."

"You didn't!" Tifa laughs.

Rude grins and chuckles lightly. "He was as bald as me for a while, and none too happy about it. Of course, he had to get back at us after that..."

* * *

"Hey, babe," Reno calls as he steps into the bathroom, grinning at what he sees through the glass shower door.

"Hey. Enjoying the show?" Elena replies with a smirk as she continues to lather up with a bar of soap.

"You better believe it," he replies as he sets down the clean uniform he'd been carrying next to hers on the counter. "I'm so tempted right now to just climb in there with you. But if I did, we'd still be in there when Meteor hits," he continues as he kicks off his shoes and begins piling his weapons on the counter while continuing to watch her.

"What, you don't think Rude'd interrupt if we took too long?"

"Nah. I stuffed the brat in the kitchen, so he's all alone with Tifa. The way those two were looking at each other, they probably wouldn't notice we're taking too long till Meteor hit," he states with a lopsided grin while stripping off his dirty uniform.

"Heh, that's so cute. Good for them. Hey, mind getting my back?"

"Sure," he replies while kicking off his boxers. Reno then takes the bar of soap from her and begins scrubbing her back. "You know, they say even lobster gets old if you eat it every night. I say they're full of shit." He leans forward and lightly kisses the side of her neck, then inhales deeply, enjoying her scent, before continuing, "I want you bad, Lena. Just as bad as the first time, even though I've lost count of how many times we've been together since then. It ain't easy being patient." He then hands the soap back and withdraws from the shower as she begins rinsing off.

"No, it's not easy. And you just made it worse, you damn tease." she replies with a slight smirk that takes the sting out of her words. "Heh, you know, I lost count the first night."

Reno chuckles lightly at the revelation. "That intense, huh? See, I told you not all of my reputation's rumors," he states with a wide smirk as she steps out of the shower, leaving the water running. He hands her a towel and she lightly trails her fingertips over his body as he steps past her into the shower. "Heh, who's being a tease now?" Reno jokes as he begins to shampoo his hair.

"Hey, can't blame me for wanting to have a little fun," she says with a laugh as she towels off. "Now, give me a good show, alright?" Elena jokingly requests while enjoying watching the water run down Reno's body as he rinses the shampoo out of his hair. "C'mon, shake that moneymaker for me." Grinning, Reno obliges, swaying a bit as he lathers up. "Now, let's see if I can keep from drooling," Elena jokes as she begins to get dressed in a clean uniform.

"Hah, now you know how I felt, standing out there. Y'know, I could use a hand with my back," he states. She reaches into the shower and runs the soap along his back with one hand while caressing his back with the other. "Ah, that feels nice..." he sighs, fighting the urge to turn around and pull her fully into the shower, which grows stronger as she goes lower. "Heh, I'm pretty sure I got that bit already," he jokes as she goes even lower.

"Yeah," Elena agrees with a lazy smile. "But I like your ass, so it's gonna get a little more attention." She then withdraws and gets back to dressing.

"Ah, you tease. I'm gonna have a hell of a lot of frustration to work off after the wedding, you know," he points out as he rinses the soap off.

"That's the plan," she says with a smirk while tossing him a towel as he steps out of the shower. "Hey, since we won't get a whole week, may as well make the time we've got left as intense as possible."

"Good plan," he says with a wink while hurriedly toweling off. He then begins rapidly throwing his clothes on.

* * *

"...and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital in Midgar," Tifa says, recounting how she survived the Nibelheim incident to Rude, who is holding her close as she relives the old memories. "I found out that Master Zangan had carried me out of town and left me with a student of his named Jessie. We became good friends and she helped me start a new life and recruited me into Avalanche."

"I can't blame you for hating Shin-Ra so much after that," Rude says.

"Yo," Reno interrupts as he exits the bathroom, "time to get moving!" He then leads the way out of the safehouse.

* * *

After launching the Highwind, Cid calls Avalanche and most of his crew out on deck. Once everyone's standing close enough to their assigned position to satisfy Cid, he turns and knocks on the door leading back into the ship. Reno and Rude step out at the signal. Rude has changed into a clean Turk uniform while Reno wears a white tuxedo with tails on the back that reach to his knees. Unable to resist adding a flamboyant touch, he also wears a white top hat with a crimson hatband that matches his fiery hair, as well as a bowtie and cummerbund the same color. In place of the usual ratty rubber band, a narrow strip of white silk ties his still damp hair back.

Once both are standing next to Cid, the side door of the nearest chopper slides open and Elena and Tifa step out. Elena wears a white dress, which has three-quarter-length sleeves and a fluffy, lacy skirt that reaches to the ground and trails behind her. She also wears a simple thin gold chain, a thin gold bracelet, and gold hoop earrings that Tifa was loaning to her, since the small amount of jewelry Elena owns is all in her luggage back in Junon. She forgoes the use of a veil, since she had found the one she'd tried on in the dress shop to be annoying. Tifa wears the same blue dress and matching high heels that she'd once worn to Wall Market and the jewelry Rude had bought for her. They step forward and Elena, having never worn such a long dress, trips on the hem and comes close to falling when Tifa helps her catch her balance. "Well, at least you didn't buy the dress with the tube top," Tifa whispers in an attempt to cheer up her blushing friend.

"True, I wouldn't want to flash everyone at my wedding," Elena whispers back. She then takes a deep breath to compose herself, bends down, picks up the hem of her dress, and jogs up to where Reno waits before letting the hem fall back to the deck.

"Alright, you damn screwheads, listen up!" Cid announces in a loud voice. "If I catch any of you cunts falling asleep, I'll kick your fucking ass!" He then scratches his head and mutters, "Now, how'd this shit go?" He blows a puff of smoke from his ever-present cigarette and then continues in his previous loud voice, "We're all out here today 'cause these two wanna get hitched. This guy's been chasing skirts damn-near his whole life and he finally caught one. Or maybe one caught him, it's hard to tell sometimes. Anyways, good for them, they're all happy and shit now. Shortest fucking engagement I've ever seen, too. So, if any of you've got a reason these two shouldn't get hitched, goddamnit, you better keep your motherfucking mouth shut unless you want your fucking ass kicked! They've made their own vows, so, erm... eeny... meeny... Reno, you first. Hey, pay attention, motherfucker!" Cid shouts as he punches Reno in the shoulder.

"Wha?" Reno blinks. Having managed to lose himself in his lover's eyes, he had completely missed Cid's speech.

"You goddamn vows. Say em."

"Uh, right." Reno closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before beginning his vow while looking Elena in the eyes. "Elena, I love you with all of my heart and swear that no matter what happens, I'll keep loving you as long as I live. I'll watch your back, and I won't hesitate to take a bullet for you. If I ever fail to protect you, a part of me'll die and I'll avenge you, no matter the cost. Elena, I'm willing to die for you, but I'd rather live for you, sharing what time we have left on this world together. I swear this by my own blood." He then surprises the onlookers by pulling a switchblade from his right pants pocket and unflinchingly slashing across his left palm. Next, Reno pockets the knife while holding his bleeding palm out towards his fiancé.

Elena immediately starts saying her vows. "Reno, I love you with all of my heart and swear that no matter what happens, I'll keep loving you for as long as I live. I'll watch your back, and I won't hesitate to take a bullet for you. If I fail to protect you, a part of me will die and I'll avenge you, no matter the cost. Reno, I'm willing to die for you, but I'd rather live for you, sharing what time we have left on this world together. I swear this by my own blood." Elena pulls a small dagger from the bodice of her dress and slashes her right palm without flinching, then presses her wound against the one on Reno's palm, allowing their blood to mingle as their fingers entwine. A few drops of mixed blood escape to the deck before their mako-accellerated natural healing processes, aided by the pressure of one another's palms, causes the shallow wounds to clot.

"Damn, I wasn't expecting any crazy shit like that," Cid comments. "Still, guess it's kinda symbolic or some such shit. Alright, hand over the goddamned rings." At this cue, Rude hands Reno a ring and he gently places it on the third finger of Elena's left hand, then softly kisses the back of her hand. Tifa then hands the other ring to Elena and she slides it carefully onto the third finger on Reno's left hand. "Alright, that's it. You two're officially man and wife now. The hell're you waiting for, kiss her already, damnit!" Cid loudly urges.

The newlyweds need no further prompting, immediately coming together in a passionate embrace and locking their lips together swiftly enough that Reno's hat falls off due to the impact. He brings his left hand up to the side of her face and softly caresses it before moving his hand to the back of her head and running it through her hair as his other hand traces it's way down her spine. At the same time, she brings her left leg up and hooks it around his waist, holding him tight as her left hand rubs his shoulder and part of his chest and her other hand runs up his spine to tangle in his hair. The movement of the amorous pair's jaws makes it obvious to onlookers what their tongues are doing as Reno's hand finishes it's journey down Elena's spine and smoothly glides over her hip before coming to rest upon her left thigh.

"Shit, I said kiss, not fucking dry-hump," Cid remarks to the oblivious newlyweds, looking amused despite his gruff words.

"Well, it hardly matters," Nanaki states while giving a pointed look to the south. "Unless Holy comes soon, we're all out of time. It should already be moving." Looking south at his words, everyone except Elena and Reno see that Meteor's oddly slow decent has almost brought it into contact with the horizon, and the newlyweds see it a few moments later, after Rude finally prods them in the shoulders hard enough to get their attention, which causes them to turn their heads without otherwise breaking their pose.

"Shit!" Cid exclaims after pulling a pair of high-powered binoculars from a pocket to take a closer look. "The goddamn thing's coming down right on fucking top of Midgar!" He has the best view of the distant disaster, but those with mako-enhanced vision can vaguely see what's going on.

"I had as many people as I could evacuated," Reeve's tired voice announces through Cait Sith's speakers. "The rest are taking shelter in the old air-raid shelters in the slums but... I don't know if that's enough to protect them."

"Well, since we're about to die, I may as let you all know you surprised me," Reno remarks, looking over the assembled Avalanche members. "I only expected a couple of you to even show up, but you all did alright down there." He then displays his trademark smirk. "And if we somehow live through this, I'll deny ever saying that."

"Shit, there it goes..." Cid comments.

"What?" Barret asks. "The hell's happening to Midgar?"

"It's fucking hard to tell from here, but looks like some shit's coming offa Meteor and fucking up Midgar."

Rude steps behind Tifa and wraps his arms around her before whispering, "If there's anything I can do..."

"Just keep holding me," she replies in a quiet voice. Tifa then turns, not wanting to watch Meteor anymore, and spots a bright light to the north. "What's that?" she asks, pointing towards the approaching light.

"Holy," Cloud states.

"I believe he's right," Nanaki confirms.

"Hey, looks like we'll get to have a honeymoon after all," Elena quietly says with a hopeful expression.

"Sounds nice," her red-haired husband replies. All those gathered on deck watch as Holy approaches and passes to the west of the ship, before speeding south towards Midgar.

"Cid, could I borrow those binoculars?" Nanaki requests.

"Shit, why not?" the chain-smoking pilot replies before holding the requested item out at Nanaki's eye level.

"This isn't good," Nanaki states. "It seems Holy's late arrival has accelerated Meteor's effect." Shocked exclamations and curses ring out across the deck at this revelation.

"Well," Reno whispers, "at least we get to die in good company." He feels Elena tremble slightly in his arms from the shock of having sudden hope snatched away and tightens his embrace on her, partially in an attempt to calm his petite wife and partially to keep his own hands from shaking. Not wanting to watch their approaching certain death any longer, they turn their attention to one another. Brown and aquamarine gaze deeply into one another, each shimmering with unshed tears.

Nearby, Tifa continues to stare towards the distant destruction, shock and disbelief writ plainly upon her face as Rude silently holds her, offering what comfort he can. Suddenly, they see streams of brilliant green erupt from the ground and undulate their way through the air towards Midgar. "Shit, I never seen so much fucking mako in one place in my fucking life!" Cid comments.

Cloud murmurs, "Lifestream... It's her..." but no one seems to notice, as the spectacle unfolding before them transfixes all who observe it. More mako erupts, making the ground appear a sea of bright green to the aerial observers. As the flowing mass of mako pours into Midgar, a bright light appears above it, causing even the distant observers on the Highwind to squint and obscuring what was occurring from even those with enhanced vision. The light grows brighter as the last of the airborne mako pours into it, then the light disappears.

"What the fuck just happened?" Cid asks while looking through his binoculars. "fucking Meteor and Holy just fucking vanished!"

Cloud says, "She just saved us. I'm going to go find her," and then climbs into the chopper that Cid had flown into the crater and takes off without another word, flying in the general direction of the City of the Ancients.

Barret wonders, "The hell was that about? Damn spiky-headed fool."

"He didn't even say goodbye," Tifa complains.

"It's not your fault he's being an ass," Rude tells her with a quiet smile. "You know, I've never been so glad to be wrong about something in my life. So, where can I pick you up from?"

The question confuses Tifa for a moment before she remembers their plan to go on a date after Rude goes to Tseng's memorial. "Kalm. It's a nice town, and Reeve's offered to help out anyone who settles near there, so I'll see if I can get a business running there."

"Nice how that works out. Reeve's offered us work, so we'll be heading there anyways. But we won't be leaving until we're closer to Junon, so the two of us still have a bit of time left."

"So, any ideas for what to do till then?"

"Not offhand," he says with a small smile. "Guess I'll just have to keep holding you like this until one of us thinks of something else to do."

Tifa smiles and relaxes, allowing her head to rest on his chest. "Yeah, I like that plan."

Nearby, a much less restrained celebration was taking place. After a few moments of stunned silence at the sudden turn of events, Reno lets out a loud whoop, then grabs Elena around the waist, tosses her into the air, and catches her. Both then break into relieved laughter, wide grins adorning their faces. He lifts her into the air again, then spins in a circle as both continue to laugh. After a short time of this, Elena suddenly sneezes. Glancing around for a source for the irritation, they spot Vincent leading a fully saddled gold chocobo onto the deck. "Yo, Valentine! Taking off?" Reno calls out.

"Yes."

"Well, hey, just so you know, if you ever get bored with retirement or need work or something, look us up. Far as I care, you're still a Turk, so you're welcome to run with us."

"Thank you for the offer. I may take you up on it someday, but I have a great many things to think about first. I've been out of the world for a long time, so I've decided to walk the earth for a while, see what I've missed while I think."

"Make sure you stop by south Costa while you're doing that. Last I heard, Jessiah and Ricdeau were still alive, raising hell in a retirement villa."

"My old comrades still live? I'm surprised, they're each over ten years older than me."

"Yeah, I guess the crazy geezers're too damned tough to die. I fought with 'em a few times back in the war before they retired. Anyways, if anything can help you get shit straightened out in your head, talking with the guys you were Turks with oughta do it."

"Yes, I should do that. Thank you and farewell." That said, Vincent climbs into his borrowed chocobo's saddle and rides over the edge of the deck. Those near the edge can see him alight on the water's surface and ride to the southwest.

"The fuck're all you lazy bitchs standing around for! Get the fuck back to work!" Cid commands his crew, sending them scrambling back into the ship, followed by the grumbling pilot. Over the next few minutes, various members of Avalanche drift below decks, until only Tifa and the Turks are left on deck. The two couples stand on opposite sides of the deck passing the time with small talk and cuddling.

* * *

After a little over two hours pass, they are in easy viewing distance of Midgar and Reno announces, "Alright, time to go. Mount up!" and he then climbs into the co-pilot's seat of the remaining chopper and begins warming up the engine while Elena walks over to Rude and Tifa, removing the borrowed jewelry as she goes.

"Thanks again for loaning me these," she says with a smile while handing over Tifa's jewelry.

"It's the least I could do after how you helped me," Tifa replies with a smile. "Oh, and congratulations. I hope you two have a fun honeymoon."

"Yeah, we'll have to make time for one. Guess I'll see you later." The two share a quick hug, then Elena heads towards the chopper, leaving Tifa alone with Rude.

"Hey, um..." Rude hesitates for a moment before reaching into his jacket and pulling out his sketchpad. "Hold onto this for me until I get back, alright?" He then hands the pad to her.

"Thanks, I'll keep it safe for you," she replies, sure that the gesture means a lot to Rude. "Don't keep me waiting too long, now."

"I won't. I'll call you when I'm heading back," he promises. He then hesitates a moment before tentatively leaning forward and planting a kiss on her lips. Tifa responds, leaning into the kiss, and is a little amused to note that Rude blushes slightly before pulling back. "So, uh... Guess I'll see you later." he says, wishing he could think of something smooth to say.

"See you around, Rude." Tifa calls as he walks off.

"So, you use tongue this time?" Reno predictably asks as Rude climbs into the back of the chopper.

"...no..." Rude replies. "Could you stop asking that?"

"I'll stop asking when you start kissing her right," the redhead proclaims with a laugh as Elena guides the chopper into the air. Back on deck, Tifa stands by the railing and watches the chopper recede out of sight. She then walks to her stateroom and opens Rude's sketchpad. A smile comes to her face at the discovery of a new drawing, an unfinished sketch of the kiss she'd shared with Rude before flying into battle at the northern crater.

* * *

After flying directly to Junon, the Turks land on the roof of their safehouse, where they perform a quick pre-flight check on the Falcon before taking off and setting a course for the ruins of the Temple of the Ancients. The mood during the quiet flight is somber, due to all three thinking on the upcoming memorial ceremony. During the flight, Reno and Elena change into clean Turk uniforms and Reno, for the first time in years, has his shirt tucked in and fully buttoned and even zips his suit coat and wears a tie as a show of respect for his fallen comrade.

* * *

Landing near the site not long before sunset, they open the rear ramp of the Falcon and quickly pitch a medium-sized tent next to it. Then they unload a wooden crate and slowly carry it over to the edge of the pit, feeling very much like pallbearers. After using combat knives as prybars to open the crate, they remove the stone marker it contains and firmly plant it into the ground a few feet from the edge, along the pathway to the temple. That done, they stand together in silence for a few moments, looking down at the simple marble gravestone that bears three lines of text, 'Here Died Tseng of the Turks, Killed by Sephiroth, Avenged by the Turks'.

Reaching into his coat, Reno pulls out a bottle of fine aged Cognac, Tseng's favorite. After pulling the cork and taking a swig, he then passes the bottle to Rude, who does likewise before passing the bottle to Elena. She hands the bottle back to Reno after taking her swig, and he pours the remainder of the bottle over the gravestone, then throws the empty bottle into the pit. Glancing to his left, Reno see's that Elena is standing stiffly at attention as tears stream silently down her face. To his right, Reno see's that Rude appears almost as stoic as always, hiding his pain behind his shades, yet subtle cracks can be detected by his old friend, telling him that the facade will not last long.

Reno sighs as the eulogy he'd composed on the flight down slips from his mind. Fighting for control, he begins to improvise in an unusually thick voice, "Well, we did it, Tseng. Killed the fucker that killed you. Even saved the world, if you can imagine us doing that..."

He takes several deep breaths as a tear runs down his cheek before continuing in a cracking, unsteady voice, "Shit, man, fucking miss you. Ain't never gonna be the same, but we'll keep going on." He then raises his arms and wraps one around each of his fellow Turks, pulling them close as they return the gesture. Tears run freely down the faces of all three as Reno continues, "I'll... I'll take care of them, man, I swear... I'll lead them best I can. Shin-Ra might be dead, but the Turks ain't finished... Nowhere near. I dunno if you can see us but... we'll make you proud man... I swear, Tseng, we'll make you proud..."

It's hard to tell who's the first to sink to their knees, as the others follow almost instantly. Mere moments after the last words of the eulogy leave Reno's mouth, the trio is kneeling together in a tight huddle before the gravestone, heads bowed and shoulders shaking as they weep loudly. This continues until sometime after sunset, when they gradually quiet down. A few minutes later, Reno unsteadily stands, then reaches down to help Elena to her feet as Rude slowly rises on his other side. They then slowly make their way to the tent and enter.

Inside, they begin a somber meal of cold army rations and strong whiskey. After a few minutes of silence, Reno looks up and asks, "Hey, Lena, you ever hear about how we first met Tseng?" She silently shakes her head.

"He wasn't... very impressed with us at first," Rude states with a ghost of a smile faintly visible on his tear-streaked face.

"Heh, that's a hell of an understatement," Reno says with a small smirk at the distant memory. "Course, it's kinda hard to make a good first impression when you've just spent half a day drinking cheap Sake and smoking pot."

"Was he... still all professional back then?" Elena asks.

"Hell, yeah," Reno replies. "He didn't really care much for us young Turks, mostly just hung out with the other pre-war Turks, Jessiah, Ricdeau, and Veld. What was that thing Tseng used to call us?"

"I think it was 'hedonistic young imbeciles, fit only for low-grade wetwork'. And that was when he was in a good mood," Rude supplies.

"Yeah, that's it!" Reno laughs. "God, it took him so long to warm up to us, for us to earn his respect." The mood in the tent continues to lighten as the trio share their happier memories of their fallen friend. This continues for several hours until the combination of exhaustion and alcohol lull the blue-suited trio into a peaceful slumber.


End file.
